In The Time Of Angels
by deathraptor22
Summary: Season 9 AU Sam completes the Hell trails, and it turns him into an angel. Now there are less demons to deal with, but a growing Team Free Will must contend with the thousands of fallen angels, as one of their own contends with his new life.
1. Heaven's Got A New Angel

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural. If you recognize it, assume it's not mine.**

 **AN: This story is actually an expansion of chapter Six of the my story "Attack Of The AUs" also known as the Angel Sam 'verse, minus the appetence of Canon! Sam and Dean. The first two chapters are from flashback in that story, then all the rest will be new.**

Part 1: The Assention

Dean had to get to Sam. Get to him before he finished the third trail.

" _If Sam's complete those trails, he is going to die."_ Naomi's wrongs echoed through Dean's head in a never ending chant as he ran towards the church.

Dean burst through the church door just as Sam jabbed another thing of blood into Crowley's arm. Startled, Sam turned at the noise, clearly on edge.

Dean raised his hands and slowly walked over to Sam saying, "Easy there. Okay, just take it easy. We got a slight change in plans."

"What?" Sam began, confused, "What's going on? Where's-" Suddenly Sam started gagging as a yellowish light glowed from his arms showing his veins. Dean took a step closer. Dean wasn't sure what was happening, but he had to help Sam, somehow.

"Dean, don't!" Sam demanded in fear for his brother's safety, "Don't!"

Suddenly the ground started to shake. "What the Hell is that?!" Dean shouted.

"I think that's-"Sam began, "I think that's exactly what it is. I think that's gates of Hell closing."

"You idiots," Crowley grumbled from the chain he chained to, "Of course that's what it is."

Dean's heart sunk. "No," He said, shaking his head, "No."

"Dean, what are you-" Sam's voice trailed off as he screamed in pain and his upper body jutted, as if he'd been hit in the spine, and a bright white light began to emanate from his body. Sam could a strange power crossing through him, a power he had never felt before.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Dean said, tears streaming down his face, "Metatron lied. I'm so sorry."

An urgent feeling passed through Sam and suddenly he was screaming, "Dean, shut your eyes! I don't know why, just-do okay!"

"Dean, I think you ought to do what he says," Crowley added, shutting his own eyes.

"Dean please!" Sam managed to scream before his words turned to screams of agony.

Dean closed his eyes because this was Sammy's dying wish damn it, the fierce shaking of the ground and his own shock sending him to his knees. There was a finial scream from Sam and the sound of wood crashing and then silence.

Dean slowly opened his eyes. The shaking had stopped, but the pews around him had been turned to planks of timber, and if he looked out the now completely glassless windows he would have saw thousands upon thousands of angels falling from the heavens. He might have also seen one, one lone light, rising up in a choppy, frantic motion, as if it had no idea what it was doing. But as if was, Dean had no clue what was going on outside the windows, nor did he care. He was focused one sole thing in that room.

Sam was gone. Not just dead, there wasn't even a body. It was as if he had never been there.

"No!" Dean shouted, punching the floor with both fist.

"Dean," Crowley spoke up, too stunned by the spectacle to even think to mock or to use his usual sarcastic snarky tone, "Maybe you should calm down."

"Shut up!" Dean seethed, "Just shut up! Don't you-don't dare. Don't you there tell me to calm down!"

Dean spent the next half hour like that, screaming and pounding every surface he could get to, until he was horse and his knuckles were busted open, pouring blood. Then he fell over in a state of near catatonia.

He didn't even notice the doors open and steps of footsteps walking in, or Crowley saying, "Well, it's about time you showed up. And who's the girl?"

"Silence, demon," A strange voice, a female voice said. Dean barely registered it.

He also barely registered Cas' voice saying "He's not a demon anymore." Then crouching over him, whispering "Oh Dean..."

He grabbed Dean at his side and sat him upright. "Go unchain Crowley," He instructed his female counter part, a dark haired young woman, as he healed Dean's right hand.

"But-"The girl began to protest.

"Just trust me," Cas responded.

The girl ran off to do what Cas said.

"He's gone, Cas," Dean moaned, as Castiel began on the other hand, "Sammy's gone. He's dead. I couldn't get here in time."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Cas replied, finishing with the hands.

"What the Hell does that mean?" Dean asked, pulling away a little.

Castiel paused for a moment, as if trying to think of how to explain. "Alright, Dean," He said at last, sitting across from the hunter, "This is going to be really hard to explain, we're not actually sure what's going on ourselves, but please, just listen." He took a deep breath and said, "I'm not Cas. Well, Cas is in here too, he's just not the one-at the wheel in the moment."

"What the Hell does that mean?" Dean responded, confused, which was making annoyed on top of everything else.

"Dean, I know this is gonna be hard to believe but," Cas began, "I'm Sam."

Dean's mouth fell open. "What?"

"Due to a spell Cas turned into a human," Sam/Cas explained, "And somehow, we're not exactly sure, I turned into an angel."


	2. Lost Angels

Castiel walked solemnly down the road, listening to the voices in his head. Voices of lost, confused frightened fallen angels, thousands of them. Suddenly one stood out among the sea of noise. _"What's happening...what's going on, where am I?"_

At first Castiel thought it was just another angel, a familiar one, perhaps one he knew, but still just another angel, when the voice said _, "Dean!"_

Cas stop in tracks. "Sam?" He said aloud.

Suddenly he heard the sound of tires screeching on rubber. He leapt out of the way, landing on the gravel. He was surprised by the stinging in his hands. He looked at his bloody palm as a voice behind him said, "Hey buddy, you okay?"

"It's hurts," Cas mused still looking at his hand.

"What the Hell you doing in the middle of the road like that?" The driver of the truck who almost hit him, a man with stringy hair and a beard, asked.

"I heard angels," Cas answered, as if it was a normal answer, "I thought I heard the voice of a friend of mine, which wouldn't have been odd expect, this friend is human."

Concerned, the man responded with "How about we get you some water hmm?"

"I, uh, I don't drink water," Castiel replied.

"Dehydration's a real bitch up here, mister," The man said, coming to the conclusion that this was the reason for the strange behavior.

As the voice that might or might not be Sam rang out in his head again, Cas realized he needed to talk to Dean to see what happened, and said urgently, "A phone. Do you have a phone?"

"No signal up here," The man replied, "How about a lift, hmm?"

"Yes." Cas said, "Good. I would fly, but-I have no wings, not anymore."

"Right," The man said slowly. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day.

During the drive, Castiel became more and more focused on maybe Sam's voice. It was so desperate, so frightened, maybe even more so than all the others, than at last he couldn't take it anymore. He bowed his head and started to pray, starting with one word, "Sam? Sam, is that you?"

Apparently, somehow, the voice heard him through all the madness. _"Cas?"_ The voice said, _"Cas, is that you?"_

"Yes," Cas replied, "It's me. Where-where are you?"

 _"I don't know,"_ Sam answered, panicked, _"I was with Dean and Crowley in the church, and then Dean was trying to tell me something and suddenly, I was-in pain, really bad, and I started, this light started coming that of me and I felt-"_

"Go on Sam," Cas encouraged in a hush whisper as his host was starting to eye him strangely," Felt what?"

 _"This-this power,"_ Sam said, " _It wasn't like anything I felt before and I was scared that-that I might hurt Dean. And then, suddenly I'm not in the church anymore and I don't really feel...I don't know, solid, I guess. And there are all these other-things here and I don't know what they are, and I don't know where we are, and I don't even know how I'm hearing you..."_

As Sam went on, an idea formed in Castiel's mind. But, no, it wasn't possible. Was it? The fact was that Sam clearly wasn't in his body anymore and if the rumbling earlier was any indication had shut the gates of Hell, and what he was describing really sounded like-

"Sam," Cas interrupted, almost forgetting to whisper, "I think I know what happened to you."

 _"Then tell me, Cas!"_ Sam cried out in Cas' mind.

"I think, somehow," Castiel began, not quite believing what he was about to say, "That you've turned into an angel."

There was a moment of silence in Castiel's head.

"Sam?" He asked.

Just then the pick-up truck stopped across the street from a gas station. "Here you go," The man said.

Castiel got out, but before he could go much further the man said, "Hey," holding out a handful of bills.

"No, I can't take your money," Castiel tried to politely decline.

"For the phone," The man explained, "And a sandwich if they got one."

"It's okay," Castiel reassured him, "I don't eat."

"You'll figure something out," The man replied, refusing to go until the strange hitchhiker had taken the cash, "Hmm?"

Castiel gave in and took the bills and some change.

"Take care kid," The man said, before driving off.

As he walked across the street Castiel prayed, "Sam? Are you still there?"

 _"Yeah,"_ Sam said _, 'I was just a little shocked. Actually no, I was a lot shocked, and I still am, and confused. How can I have become an angel? I mean, is that even possible?"_

"Normally I would say no," Castiel said, " There's no precedent for it, but I have no other explanation for what's happening. Naomi told Dean that finishing the trails would kill you, but I suppose she could've been lying, or misinterpreted the information she extracted from Metatron. Either way, what you're describing isn't a spirit, and does sound like an angel out of its vessel."

 _"Well, what do I do about it?"_ Sam asked, _"I have to get to Dean and tell him I'm not dead, and honestly I'm not sure how much more of this I can take!"_

"Alright, calm down," Castiel urged, "I have an idea. It appears...Metatron took my grace and now it appears I'm human."

 _"What?"_ Sam exclaimed.

"Don't worry about that," Cas said quickly, "I think we can use it to our advantage. Since I was in my vessel when it happened I should still, in theory, be able to hold in angel. You just need to possess me long enough to get you to Dean and we can figure out a permanent arrangement."

 _"Like what?"_ Sam asked.

"Anna was able to get her human body back after it was destroyed," Cas reminded him, "I'm sure we can figure out what she did and do the same for you. "

 _"And if you're wrong and you're still an angel?"_ Sam asked.

"Well, let's just hope I'm right," Cas replied, "I'm at a gas station in Longmont, Colorado."

 _"Well that narrows it down,"_ Sam said sarcastically.

While Castiel was waiting for Sam to find him-and made a note to teach him about being an angel once they got this all sorted-a young woman in blue dress with black leggings and yellow sweater walked up to him and said, "I know you."

"I don't think so," Cas replied.

The woman was about to speak when a bright light shown down on Castiel. "Hold on a second miss," He said, "That's a friend of mine, I promised to give him a lift."

 _"Uh, Cas,"_ Sam said _, "What do I do now?"_

"Just...enter me," Cas replied, "I already gave my consent, you should be able to."

" _I don't know how!"_ Sam snapped.

"Yes, you do," Cas urged, " It'll be instinctual, just...focus."

Within a few seconds Cas could feel Sam's presence coming inside him. Soon, he couldn't see or hear. Then, he could again, but found he couldn't control his body.

Because Sam had taken the wheel.

"Whoa," Was that first thing that came out of Sam's mouth in his new host body, "This is weird. This is really weird." Though he supposed he was going to have to get use to it, though. He couldn't see a way back. It was then he took notice of the confused girl in front of him-or them, or whatever-and also noticed something Castiel had overlooked.

"Hey!" Sam exclaimed, surprised he recognized her for what she was, almost like he had a sixth sense about it, "You're an angel!"

"Am I?" The girl angel question, "What's an angel without its wings?" After moment she added, "How did you keep yours intact anyway?"

That was the first time Sam had been aware of the weight on his back. He had been too panicked to notice it before, but yes, he did have wings now. But another part of the female angel's statement worried her. "What do you mean how did I keep mine intact?"

"I just thought all the angels' wings had been destroyed during the fall," The angel answered.

"Still a little lost here," Sam said.

"The fall," She repeated, "How do you not know what I'm talking about?" She was starting to wonder if maybe instead of losing his wings, this angel's mind had went instead.

Suddenly, Castiel's voice pushed into Sam's mind. _"Metatron lied. Those weren't the Heaven_ _trails but a spell to banish all the angels from Heaven."_ For whatever reason that must had been too much for Cas, because he didn't say anything else.

"Oh," Sam said, everything finally clicking into place, "I think I can explain the reason for the confusion."

And so, Sam spent the next ten minutes explaining to the angel, Hael, her named to turned out to be, what happened from his side.

"So when you finished the Hell Trials you transformed into an angel," Hael said, making sure she had this all strait," And Castiel lost his grace and volunteered to be your vessel and that's when I recognized him and walked up to him."

"That's basically it," Sam said.

"That explains why you have wings," Hael said, "While the rest of us were falling you were rising." After a second she added softly, "I'm actually a little jealous."

Sam looked at the girl and felt a pang of pity. He reached out a hand to her, lifting her head up, intending to offer promises that they could figure this out, when he saw a thing brown line, just popping up above her sweater. He pulled the sweater back and saw a large spreading bruise on her shoulder. "What the-?" Sam began, "Hael, did someone hurt you?"

Her eyes moved to the bruise, then back to Sam. "Oh, no, it's nothing like that," She replied , "It's my vessel. She's not very strong, and she won't be able to hold me much longer. Honestly, if I had known Castiel was human I'd probably see if he's merge with me."

"Come with me," Sam offered, "Me and my brother- we have this bunker you see, and it's filled with information about every kind of supernatural thing on the planet. There's bound to be something about fixing an angel's vessel."

Seeing no other options, Hael replied, "Alright."

"First though we need to find Dean," Sam replied, "Tell him what's going on." He turned to look at the wings on his back. They were dark brown, with deep crimson and gold mixed in. "How do I use these things?"

"It's very simple, really," Hael said, standing up. Sam stood up with her. She took him by the hand instructing, "Just focus on where you want to go, and flap your wings."

Sam focused on the church, picturing it in his mind. Then he gave his new wings a great flap, and they were gone.


	3. Devil May Care After All

"So let me get this strait," Dean said, trying to sort out all the information that had been thrown at him, the shock wearing off somewhat, "You turned into an angel so you possessed Cas and that's how you met this girl?"

"Yeah," Sam replied, "That's basically about it."

There was a moment of silence, then Sam added, "So, what now?"

"Well, I think the first thing we need to do is get back to the bunker, figure out a way to get you back into your body, then find a way to deal with the thousands of lose nukes running around." Dean replied.

"Lose nukes?" Hael asked, looking confused.

"He's mean you, love." Crowley spoke up, "Or your people at least. Angels."

Hael was confused again. "Why would you have to deal with us?"

"Because you guys are extremely dangerous and we can't have you all running lose around the planet?" Dean replied.

Seeing the angry look flashing across Hael's face, Sam quickly intervened, changing the subject. "Okay, before we do any of that I think we need to figure out something with Crowley. I mean, he's human, so we can't exactly kill him now."

"Why not?" Hael asked.

"Because killing humans is wrong." Sam said slowly as if talking to a child.

"But he's killed hundreds of humans," Hael pointed out, "That was wrong of him, wasn't it?"

"You know I'm right here." Crowley called out.

"Tell it to someone who cares," Dean shot back, "But you gotta admit, kid has a point."

Despite being agreed with, Hael looked annoyed. The deteriorating thing aside, the only other complaint Hael had was that she wished it was older.

"You know what," Dean said, "Why don't we just take him back with us, then we'll figure it all out from there?"

Dean insisted on taking the Impala because otherwise they would have to leave it behind, and he didn't trust Sam's flying skills. He went in first while Sam and Hael got Crowley and was greeted by an arrow flying across the room in his general direction, getting stuck in a handrail a few feet in front.

"The Hell?" Dean wondered aloud.

Kevin stood up from behind a barricade of books and a turned over table, holding a crossbow. "Dean?" The young prophet asked, "You're alive!"

"Yeah," Dean replied, " 'Cause you're a lousy shot, Katniss."

"Sorry." Kevin said sincerely, "It's been a bad couple of days. I-I haven't slept, or eaten, I'm pretty backed up."

"Okay, over share." Dean responded.

"After we talked, this place went nuts, alright?" Kevin began, "Th-there was some alarm, and all the machines were freaking out, and the bunker just locked down. I couldn't open the door, my cell phone stopped working, I thought the world was ending."

"Close," Dean said, then after a beat, added, "The angels fell."

"The..what does that mean?" Kevin asked.

"Nothing good." Dean answering taking the crossbow from Kevin, "Listen, next time the world's ending, grab a gun."

Dean put the crossbow on the table and started to walk away taking out his cell phone. "I got service."

Kevin flipped the switch on the bunker's control table. The lights turned on and there was the sound of mechanics whirling into action.

"It's back online." Kevin said, "Maybe when you opened the door from the outside door, it reset the system."

"Yeah, okay, let's go with that." Dean replied, not having a clue what Dean was talking about.

Sam and Hael entered with Crowley, who was handcuffed, blindfolded and had earmuffs covering his ears. Just because he wasn't a demon anymore didn't mean they wanted him to know where the bunker.

"Hey." Sam said, "Everything good?"

"Is it ever." Dean replied, "You two go put him up, I'll meet you in a little bit." Then he turned to Kevin who was looking confused and horrified. "Okay, cliff notes version, the Hell Trails turned Sam into an angel, the fall turned Cas into a human so Sam possessed him until we can figure something else out, and then he met this female angel who's vessel's deteriorating so we're helping her out with that, too."

"And that was the pretty girl?" Kevin asked.

"Really?" Dean deadpanned, " _That's_ what you took from all that?"

"No," Kevin began defensively, "I just-What's Crowley doing here?! Why isn't he dead?! Why aren't you stabbing him right now?!"

"Alright, alright, chill out, Kevin, okay?" Dean replied, "He's human now, so that makes it a little harder to deal with, plus, we need to him to ferret out any demons he had topside at the time the gates closed."

"And then?" Kevin asked.

"We don't know yet," Dean replied, "But we do go the killing route, we'll hold him down while you knife him."

"So now what?" Kevin asked.

" I gotta make some phones call." Dean replied, "You can help Sam and Hael find something to help with their meatsuit issues, then we'll work from there."

An hour and an half later, Hael was looking through the arcives when a voice behind her called, "Hey."

She turned around and saw Kevin holding an ancient-looking leather book. "It's Hael, right?" He asked.

"Yes." She replied.

"I think I found something that might help with your-deteriorating problem." Kevin replied, "Come with me?"

"Alright," Hael said apprehensively, but allowing herself to be lead by the hand to a nearby stack of books, where Kevin gestured for her to sit down, which she did.

"Okay," Kevin said, glancing at the book, "It says here I need to put a hand on the afflicted area."

Hael pulled down the clothing around her shoulder, revealing the bruised area.

"Wow," Kevin said, "That's not good."

As Kevin put his hand on the area Hael asked nervously, "Are you sure this spell is meant for humans to perform?"

"They didn't exactly allow non-humans in the Men Of Letters," Kevin replied, "So I think can assumed humans can do this spell."

He hadn't considered that the Men Of Letters main goal had been gathering knowledge, and therefore might have recorded the spell even if they couldn't use it.

As Kevin chanted a string of enochian, the area under his hand began to glow. When the glowing subsided Kevin removed his hand the pair found that not only was the bruising gone, it looked healthier than it had been before.

"It worked!" Hael beamed in joy and surprise, "Kevin, you're amazing."

Just then they were inturupted by the sound of clanging and crashing. They looked at each other and Kevin said, "I think it's coming from the dudgeon. Stay, here, I'll go check it out."

"I'm coming with you," Hael responded, grabbing Kevin's wrist.

"Look, he may be human now, but a few days ago that guy down there was the King Of Hell." Kevin explained.

"All the more reason for you not to go alone." Hael argued, "You're the prophet, it's my job to protect you."

"Cause you guys have been doing such a great job with that." Kevin replied sarcastically.

If looks could kill, the one the Hael gave Kevin would have stunned him dead.

"Okay, how about a compromise?" Kevin suggested, "I go in first, and if you hear something up, you go get Sam and Dean and you all go in after me, okay?"

Hael sighed. "All right."

"Okay." Kevin said, then he ran down the hallway.

When he got in the dudgeon, Kevin couldn't see Crowley. Thinking the ex-demon had somehow gotten free, he grabbed a hammer from the wall, prepared to fight, when he saw Crowley still strapped in the chair, sideways on the ground, trying to _bite_ through the chains. "What are you doing?!" Kevin exchanged, not believing what he was seeing.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Crowley snapped back, "I'm trying to escape."

Kevin felt a smirk slip onto his face. Something about seeing his old tormentor on the ground, so desperate, was very satisfying. "Gotta say," He began, "I didn't fake this would be the route you'd take. I'd figure you'd try to make a deal, get the upper hand, or something."

"That was my plan," Crowley admitted, "But then I started to get all these _feelings,_ all this guilt for the things I've done. I mean the things I've done you alone-"

"Like torturing me?" Kevin spat, "Killing my mom?"

"Except that's the thing!" Crowley shouted, "I didn't! I just have her locked away somewhere for later, and now I feel terrible about that! And she's not even the only one. There's like, at least two others, I feel terrible about them, too! Oh, I couldn't I be one of those natural-born sociopaths?!"

Taking a moment to get over the shock, Kevin bent down, saying, "If you feel so bad about it, then you'll tell me where she is." After a moment he added, "And those other people you mentioned, too."

Sam and Dean were in the main area of the bunker Dean on the phone and Sam looking through some books, when Kevin came bounding down the stairs shouting, "My mom's alive!"

There was a moment of silence then Dean said into the phone, "Yeah, Irv, I'm going to have to call you back. Good luck." After hanging up the phone he said, "What?"

"Okay, so I was with Hael," Kevin started again, "And we heard this noise from the dudgeon and I went to down to see what it was and Crowley had knocked over his chair trying to escape." Seeing the alarmed looks on the Winchester's faces, he added, "Don't worry, he's still down there. He started going on about feeling bad about all the things he's done, and he mentioned that my mom's alive."

"And he just gave you this information for free?" Dean asked skeptically.

"Well, after he let it slip he tried to make a deal for us to let him go," Heal spoke up, "But after a little prodding he told us where the prophet's mother was. We're going to go rescuse her, but it could be awhile."

And with that two started to head for the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up here," Dean said, stepping in front of them, "Kevin you cannot do this, not on your own at least."

"Heal will be with me." Kevin argued.

"Yeah, well, an teenage profit and a decaying angel do not a fighting force make." Dean replied, "Look, why don't you give me and Sam the information, and if she's there we'll go get her and bring her back here safe and sound, and probably a more than bit a traumatized."

"You guys would actually do that for me?" Kevin asked, genuinely surprised.

"Of course we would." Sam spoke up.

Kevin paused a moment, the said, "Alright. He's keeping her at a place called Castle Storage, in Witctha, he's got a demon named Del guarding the place. He's got two other hostages, a girl named Candy and a guy named Jerome."

"We'll make sure to get them, too," Dean said gesturing for Heal to join them.

"So I'm the only one who's not allowed to go?" Kevin balked.

"Only because I need a navigator," Sam replied, "Look, just scan the Angel Tablet while we're gone to see if there's any way to undo Metatron's spell, we'll be back before you know it."

Kevin sighed, "Fine."

"If she's there, we'll get her back," Dean assured, "We promise." Then they flew off.


	4. To Rescue The Stolen

They landed in a heap on the floor. The trio looked up and saw a boy in hipster glasses staring at them.

They quickly scrambled up, Sam and Dean pulling guns on him and Hael brandishing her angel blade.

"Hey, guys," The boy, whose name tag said "Del" began, "Take whatever you want, I don't want any trouble."

"Save it, Del," Dean said, "We know what you are, we know what this ism just take us to the hostages and nobody gets hurt."

Del lead them down the rows of storage units with the knife at his neck, finally stopping in front of a row. "They're in these three," He said, gesturing to the ones he meant.

Del searched his pockets for a moment. "Oops," He said in mock distress, "Looks like I forgot the keys."

Hael dug her blade into his side, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Don't," Dean said, "Those guys in there should get first pick."

Suddenly, Sam got an idea.

"Okay," Dean said, "I'll go back and get the keys, then-" He was interrupted by a loud noise. They all turned around to see Sam tearing into the metal door like a tin can. When he was done, the door revealed one Linda Tran who shirked away in fright, Sam rushed to her.

"Ms. Tran!" Sam exclaimed, "Ms. Tran! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey, it's me. It's Sam. It's Sam."

"Sam who?" Linda asked.

It was then Sam remembered he didn't exactly look like himself at the moment, "Sam Winchester," He elaborated, "And yeah, I know I don't look like me right now, that's a long story, which I can explain later. Right now let's just get you out of here."

Seeing no other way to do it, Sam grabbed onto one of the chains and pulled with all his might, separating the link from the shackle in a matter of seconds. "Here we go." Sam said, as he repeated the action with the second one. "All right." Then he lead her out of the storage unit. "I'm gonna get the others, stay with Dean until I get back."

Seeing Dean she walked over to him, saying, "I'm sure he insisted, but I trust you weren't foolish enough to bring Kevin along on this mission. That you left him somewhere safe?"

"Safest place we got." Dean replied.

Meanwhile, Sam made quick work of the other unit, revealing a young blonde woman on her hands and knees in a similar state to the one Linda had been in. "No!" She said, backing up as Sam got closer, "No!No! No!"

Seeing her friend's distress Linda quickly ran into the unit. "Candy, it's okay," She reassured her, "This is my friend, Sam, he's here to get us out of here."

Sam tore the chains from their shackles then picked Candy up and carried her out fireman-style. When he set her down Del gave her a posionous look, causing the poor girl to shutter. "It's okay."Dean assured her. He can'y hurt you ever again."

Linda went with Sam this time as he tore the door open, which was a good thing as Jerome, who had heard all the commotion outside was trying to fashion weapons out of his chains. "Jerome, it's me, Linda." She began once she saw him. "This is my friend, Sam, he's here to rescue us. Kind of a blunt rescue, but beggars can't be choosers."

"Thanks, Linda," Sam said as he broke the chains.

As they joined the others everyone's attention fell on Del. Hael handed Candy her angel blade and Sam handed Cas' to Jerome as Dean handed Linda the knife, saying, "Do the honors?"

"With pleasure."Linda said, taking the knife.

"Hey, guys." Del said, realizing how much trouble he was in, "I was just following ord-"

Before he could finish they were upon him stabbing with the ferocity of all their pent-up anger, long after he was dead. When they finally stopped he was a bloody mess on the ground. Candy even spit on him for good measure.

"Wow." Dean said, not sure what else to say, "You guys really had some anger issues with him, didn't you?"

"Okay guys," Sam said, "Just grab onto my arm and we can get you out of here."

Kevin looked up from the tablet when he heard the flapping of wings. He saw the Winchesters and Hael standing there with three new people."

Two he didn't recognize.

The other was his mother.

"Mom!" He shouted, running to her.

She met him halfway and they joined each other in an embrace. "Hello, son," She whispered into his ear.


	5. The Computer

In the days that followed, the little band of misfits fell into a steady rhythm. They spent equal amounts of time looking for something to help with Sam's body situation and something that help the overall angel situation, -thankfully so far they had been pretty quiet, save for a slight increase in missing persons and some weird incidents- Hael and Sam/Cas go off on what Dean had nicknamed, "angel lessons" fix whatever Sam had accidently broke that day, repeat. At least until the day Kevin had a slight nervous breakdown.

Which lead to Sam having some free time on his hands while Dean dealt with it.

He was working on the map table when Dean walked in through the door upstairs.

"Hey." Sam greeted him, "How'd it go with Kevin?"

"Oh, that little nerd is in a lovely warded motel room in Branson." Dean replied, "He's got about 48 hours of pay-per-porn and Kenny Rogers ahead of him."

"And his mom's okay with that first part?" Sam asked. Linda was mercifully out on an errand when the breakdown occurred, which she was still currently out on.

"I didn't tell her about any of this," Dean explained as he walked down the stairs, "I mean, he stared at the Angel Tablet and repeated the word "falafel" the entire ride. Kid's cracked, and I'd rather not incur his mom's wrath by telling her if we don't absolutely have to. I'm hoping this break will, uh, clear his head."

"And Hael?" Sam asked, as he noticed the angel had not returned with Dean.

"Insisted on staying," Dean replied, "Standing outside the door with her blade drawn. At least I was able to convince her to go Invisible Girl so she wouldn't attract attention."

"That is probably a good thing." Sam agreed.

"You know, after everything that happened, I figured we could use a little break ourselves," Dean continued, then he opened a plastic stack, "so I, uh, picked up season one of "Game Of Thrones". Figured we get a little takeout."

"All right." Sam replied, "Well, first, I think I might have found a way to help the angel situation."

"Okay, I'm ears." Dean said.

"All right." Sam repeated, "So, Kevin said the table lit up like a Christmas tree when the angels fell, right?"

"So?" Dean responded.

"So it turned out each light was where a cluster of angels fell." Sam explained, "So I'm thinking maybe there's some way to hot-wire this, make it track angels. That way, if something weird happens, we can see if angels were anywhere near the area or not."

"This was... your idea?" Dean asked.

Sam looked slightly amused as he replied, "Do you see anybody else in here?"

"Well, there is the other guy that's rolling around in your head," Dean pointed out.

"Well, Cas didn't have anything to with it," Sam responded, "It was all me."

"Okay." Dean replied, "So, how does it work?"

"Oh, no idea," Sam admitted, "See, at first, I thought the table was the computer, but it's not. It turns out it's just part of it. But I did find these cables underneath, and I followed them. You're never gonna believe what I found."

Sam lead Dean into a room full of electrical panels shelves and a very large, old computer.

"Voila." Sam said once they entered.

"This is a computer?" Dean asked.

"Yeah-or it was in 1951, when it was installed." Sam answered, "Now, here's the crazy thing. It's not plugged in to anything. I mean, I have no idea what's making this thing work."

The boys walked around to the other side of the computer. Dean put his hands on the back of it. "It's warm here." He declared, then he looked around and found a flat screwdriver on a shelf behind him. He inserted it in under the back panel of the computer and started to jimmy it open. He gave it a small pull and the panel popped off and sent him stumbling back into the shelf behind him unknowingly knocking over a bottle with gray liquid in it.

"Got it." Dean said, referring to the panel.

Sam looked at the back of the computer full of wires and unknown parts. "Huh." He mused.

"Well, that looks simple." Dean said sarcastically, "Does it come with a manual?"

"Nothing in the archives, and I obviously couldn't find anything like it online, not to mention I'm pretty sure that the Men Of Letters doesn't exactly have I.T. support anymore, either." Sam answered.

While the boys were talking they didn't notice the gray liquid in the bottle behind them start to move and grow.

"I think I know somebody who can help us." Dean said, "Come on."

The Winchesters stood up and left the room, switching off the light. The bottle's lid popped off and the gray liquid spilt on the floor and then started to grow and climb onto the wall.


	6. Slumber Party

"So you haven't found anything about how to get your body back?" Charlie asked, Sam recapping what Dean had warned her about on the phone.

"Pretty much," Sam said as the pair entered the front door and descended the stairs. "Here it is."

Dean, who was at the table, smiled when Charlie waved at him. "Hey." He said, getting up, "Thanks for coming." Then the two hugged.

"Not a problem, especially since I got fired last week." Charlie replied.

"Hey, what?" Sam asked, setting her bag down on the table, "What happened?"

"Turns out the company I work for was outsourcing to child labor so I took a big Wikileak all over that." The hacker explained, "And, yeah. It's cool, though. It's given me more time to focus on my hobbies...like larping, macramé, and hunting."

"Excuse me?" Dean responded, looking alarmed. Sam also looked concerned.

"Okay." Charlie began, trying to placate them before they got two worked up, "It was just a couple of cases. I took down a teenage vampire and a ghost...which sounds like a Y.A. novel if you say it out loud. "

"Charlie, how'd it go?" Sam asked, still concerned.

"It was, uh...it was intense." Charlie answered, "But I kind of wish hunting was more...magical, you know?"

Dean rolled his eyes and Sam looked confused.

"Never mind. " Charlie said, "So, where is this Commodore 64 of yours?"

When they got to the computer room Charlie instantly started geeking out over the computer.

"Sweet Ada Lovelace." She exclaimed, "This thing belongs in a museum. It mean, it's got encryption software. It seems to be powered by something magical."

"Skip to the end." Dean said.

"It's kind of a an alarm system." Charlie explained, "Global badness? It freaks. This computer is what locked this place down."

"Can we use it to track angels?" Sam asked.

"All right." Charlie said, "Let me see what I can do."

A while later Charlie had hooked up all kinds of wires and switches to her computer. She plugged the last one on in.

"All right." The redhead said, "It took some doing, but now we can download. This beast had all the Men Of Letters flies. Time for a little drag-and-drop."

"Wow." Sam replied, "Well, it's a start. Thank you. Um, that's -that's great."

Dean singled for his brother to ask Charlie something.

"So, you've been hunting." Sam said.

"Alone." Dean added.

"I know." Charlie admitted, "Not a good idea, according to the "Supernatural" books."

Both boys looked annoyed.

"You really can't delete those from the internet?" Sam asked.

"Not even I can do that." Charlie replied, "Come on!"

"Where did you even find them?" Dean asked, secretly hopping there was still some way to get rid of all of them.

"A top-secret place I call Amazon." Charlie answered with a cheeky grin, "And someone uploaded all the unpublished works. I thought it was fanfic at first, but it was clearly Edlund's work."

"Who uploaded it?" Sam asked.

"I don't know." Charlie answered, "Their screen name was beckywinchester176. Ring a bell?"

Dean looked sharply at Sam who got very flustered.

"None." Sam said, attempting to distance himself from his ex-wife, "Uh, nobody's. Uh, no, there are no bells. Un...no."

Charlie looked at Sam like he had lost him mind then looked back at her computer. "Ugh, these flies are encrypted." She groaned, "This is gonna take a while. So, takeout, sleepover, braid each other's hair?"

"Got an idea." Sam replied.

And that was how they wound up in Sam's file and book covered room, Dean and Charlie sitting on the bed and Sam sitting in the chair beside them, watching "Game Of Thrones". The episode ended and Dean turned off the TV.

"Wow." Dean said, "That Joffery's a dick."

"Oh, you have no idea." Charlie replied, "Wait until he-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sam exclaimed, "S-spoilers. I haven't read all the books yet."

"You're gonna read the books?" Dean questioned.

"Yes, Dean." Sam responded, "I like to read books-you know, the ones without pictures."

Dean shot an annoyed look at his brother.

"Man, this bed is about as comfortable as a brick." Charlie commented, "Any plans on moving in anytime soon?"

"I am moved in." Sam protested, "This is just my style."

"Yeah, this is his, uh, style." Dean snarked.

"Well, I'm sorry I haven't hung up the, uh, "Hang in there, kitty," poster yet, Dean." Sam replied, "Feel free to redecorate."

"So, what, our home's not good enough for a "Hang in there, kitty," poster?" Dean questioned.

"This isn't our home." Sam argued, "This is where we work."

"What's the difference?" Dean asked.

"Okay." Charlie said, looking uncomfortable with the sibling argument.

Dean got up from the bed. "All right, well, I'm gonna get us some more beers. How about that?"

After Dean left the room, Sam looked at Charlie.

"So, Charlie, what was all that about how hunting isn't magical?" He asked.

"Saving people, hunting things, the family business?" Charlie began, "I am down. But...I was raised on Tolkien, man. I mean, where is all this?" She held up the "Game Of Thrones" disk, "Where are my White Walkers, and my volcano and magic ring to throw in the damn thing. Where-where is my quest?"

 _"Sam,"_ Cas spoke up, _"Do you have any idea what she'd talking about?"_

"Kinda," Sam whispered, the addressed Charlie, "Magic, quest...suck. Trust me. They're all- dead ends."

A little while later, Charlie , Sam and Dean went to check on the computer.

"Download should be done by now." Charlie was saying.

It was then Dean noticed one of the shelves had moved. "What the Hell?" He responded, "Sam, give me a hand."

Sam and Dean moved the shelf away to review two gray pods on the wall. Sam pulled his gun as Dean took out a knife and cut part of the way one pod. An arm fell out. Dean cut the rest of the way and unconscious woman fell to the ground. She had lightly tanned skin and her hair was done back in a braided bun. The trio exchanged confused glances


	7. Stranger Than Fiction

**Lebanon, Kansas**

 **1930**

 _"What dump." Peter Jenkins one of the two Men of Letters stationed at the newly constructed bunker said, "You know, when I got this assignment, I thought there's be, I don't know, excitement, adventure."_

 _"There's nothing worse than adventure my boy." The slightly older of the two, James Haggerty, advised, "Trust me."_

 _Just then the phone rang and Haggerty answered. "Extension 765." There was a pause, then he said, "Yes. No. That's not the password." He shook his head. "There's protocol here, young lady. We'll be waiting." He hung up the phone. We have a guest-damn hunter. Frank's kid."_

 _"Really?" Jenkins perked up, "Wow. What he did for her-t-hat was really something."_

 _"He was something all right." Haggerty remarked._

 _They heard the sound of the door opening above them and get up to greet the newcomer. A young woman hauled a large struggling bag towards them._

 _"Holy buckets." Jenkins gapped, "It's really you."_

 _"That's right, rookie." The woman replied, "It's really me-Dorothy. Now, which one of you geniuses is gonna help me kill the wicked witch?"_

 _After Dorothy got said wicked witch out of the bag and sat her up at a table the three stared at the haggish creature._

 _"So, what do you have to say for yourself?" Jenkins asked the witch._

 _"Nothing." Dorothy spoke up, "I cut out her tongue. I've bound her, but it won't last."_

 _"Wait." Haggerty added in, "You captured her all by yourself?"_

 _"Yes." Dorothy replied coolly, "Despite all my lady parts, I managed to capture the wicked witch."_

 _"Your father would be very proud." Jenkins praised, " I mean, did you know that he-"_

 _"Wasted my time with his words." Dorothy interrupted, "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't do the same. Now, I have tried cutting off her head, burning her, dousing her with holy water. All she did was laugh. Nothing I know of can kill her. So I'm here as a last resort. I was hoping you stiffs have a way to kill someone from Oz."_

 _As they talked, they didn't notice the wicked witch working on cutting the rope binding her hands with one of her long fingernails._

 _"Well, of course we do." Jenkins declared, "W-we have to. This place is the last true beacon of light!"_

 _"All right." Dorothy responded, "Just open your damn books already."_

 _"All right, Jenkins."Haggerty said, "Let's get to work."_

 _"-dead ends." Haggerty said, after a couple of hours of futile searching, "Nothing but dead ends."_

 _"There's got to be some way to kill this thing." Jenkins added, equally stressed._

 _At that point the wicked witch finally snapped the last of her bonds and jumped from the chair. Jenkins instantly went for her with a knife._

 _"Jenkins, no!" Haggerty shouted._

 _However it was too late. The wicked witch threw her hand on Jenkins forehead and his eyes flashed bright green. It looked as if he was under a trance._

 _"There's something here that belongs to me." The witch said through Jenkins, her new flesh puppet, "Take me to it."_

 _"What the Hell's it talking about?" Haggerty asked._

 _"I have no idea." Dorothy admitted, "Do you have a lab?"_

 _"Second floor, room 28." Haggerty answered._

 _Dorothy ran out of the room and Jenkins/the witch tried to fallow her. Haggerty grabbed him and a fight ensued. Jenkins/the witch got the upper hand and pushed the knife towards Haggerty chest._

 _"Wait!" Haggerty shouted, "Jenkins, Jenkins! I know you're in there."_

 _"Jenkins is gone." Jenkins/ the wicked witch said._

 _Haggerty did a move and stabbed Jenkins/the wicked witch with the latter's own knife. Jenkins eyes flashed green again and he snapped out of his chance._

 _"You were right." Jenkins said with his dying breath, "There's nothing worse than adventure."_

 _With that Jenkins died and Haggerty took off. Mourning his friend would have to wait. Now he had to find Dorothy._

 **Lebanon Kansas**

 **2013**

Dean and Charlie were reading the Men of Letters case folder on Dorothy, who was on the floor covered with a dark green blanket.

"Holy crap!' Charlie exclaimed, "The first case in the bunker involved Dorothy. She and the witch came into this room and they never came out. This will never stop blowing my mind!"

"Okay, pace yourself, Toto." Dean urged.

"Oz is real!" Charlie continued, calmer but still overwhelmed with excitement, "It's part of the fairy world."

Meanwhile Sam squatted down beside Dorothy. They had a lot to tell her about.

"We have to find her." Dorothy said.

"No, we have to talk before anyone does anything, okay?" Sam replied, "Dorothy?"

"Talk?" Dorothy responded, "Typical Men of Letters, standing around, having a nice, little chat with your noses buried in you books while your little secretary takes notes."

"We're hunters." Dean said.

"And who are you calling a secretary?" Charlie corrected her a little defensively.

"You're not a secretary?" Dorothy asked, "You're a Woman of Letters? W-How long have I been out?"

"That's why we need to talk." Sam began, "Look, you've been gone for over 75 years. Now, according to our flies, you came here to kill the wicked witch and then disappeared. What happened?"

"We couldn't find a way to kill her, so I did the only thing that I could." Dorothy said.

 **Lebanon Kansas**

 **1930**

 _Dorothy was when the computer room mixing a spell into a glass bottle when the wicked witch appeared. Which was just what Dorothy wanted._

 _"It's you and me forever, bitch." Dorothy said before capping the bottle and they both disappeared into a flash of light._

 _Haggerty flung the door open to find nobody there._

 _"Dorothy!" He called out, "Dorothy!"_

 **Lebanon Kansas**

 **2013**

"A binding spell that came at a price-her soul with mine." Dorothy finished.

"So you've been frozen with the witch for all this time?" Sam asked.

"Yes." Dorothy answered, "Look, the witch cannot be killed. If I am awake, then so is she."

Meanwhile, the witch in question had found her way to the dudgeon.

"Hello, lovely." Crowley, who was still locked up down there for the time being, said.

The wicked witch tried to cross the Devil's Trap the boys had put down in case any of the few remaining topside demons tried to get to Crowley, but it brunt her feet.

"Sorry." Crowley said, "This litter box is warded against everything, even wicked witches. Big fan. Love your work, even with the personality changes I've been undergoing, but that's another matter."

The wicked witch let out an angry hiss and her eyes glowed green.

"What's the matter, darling?" Crowley asked, "Cowardly lion got you tongue? Right. Enough chitchat. Must be here for a reason." He wrapped a crayon he had been given around a piece of paper and threw it at her. She caught it. "Write it down so daddy can help."

Meanwhile, back in the computer room, Sam was asking, "Wait, if she's here, why didn't she kill you?"

"She can't." Dorothy answered bluntly.

"You're protected by the Witch of the North's kiss." Charlie added in, "It's from the books."

"Oh, forget the books!" Dorothy snapped, "They're not important. I'm protected. You aren't. Now, the witch came here looking for something. I have no idea what it is. But we have to find her before she finds it."

"All right, all right." Dean said, "Charlie, dig into the flies. See if you can find anything that puts a dent in the witch."

"Mm-hmm." Charlie agreed.

"Sam and I will have a look-see." Dean continued, "Come on."

"I'm helping." Dorothy protested.

"Yeah, I don't doubt it." Sam said, "But for right now, why don't you rest up and help the smartest person in the room."

They boys took their leaves, leaving the two girls alone with each other.

"So big fan." Charlie said her back to Dorothy, but turning around.

"Hmm." Dorothy responded.  
"Ozma of Oz-" Charlie began.

"Is a total ass." Dorothy cut her off bluntly, rolling her eyes a little.

"You were much nicer in the books." Charlie said, dejected.

"Those books are the ravings of a sad, old man-my father." Dorothy replied.

"Wait." Charlie said, "Your dad was L. Frank Baum, the writer?"

"A man of letters." Dorothy answered, "Another glorified librarian, you ask me."

"Hey, these guys might have been sexist, but like all librarians, they were wicked smart, too." Charlie said, "The dude who was here when you came in-Haggerty-he kept you case file open, worked it every day until he retired. Obviously, he never found you, but if you took five second to read, he did find a way to fight the wicked witch. Do you remember the poppy fields in the first book?"

"That's not actually how it happened." Dorothy replied, "It was much bloodier."

"Stop...ruining my childhood. " Charlie said patiently, "Do you remember the poppies?"

Dorothy nodded.

"Good." Charlie continued, "Haggerty made a deal with a fairy and got some poppy extract. I'm gonna get some bullets on the gun range and make us some poppy bullets. So, are you coming or what?"

Dorothy fallowed her out of the room, genuinely impressed.

Meanwhile Sam and Dean were clearing the bunkers with their guns pulled.

 _"You know, Sam."_ Castiel spoke up, " _You didn't necessarily have to leave the girls to research."_

"And why is that?" Sam asked.

"Why is what?" Dean asked.

"Talking to Cas." Sam explained, "I'll tell you in a little bit."

 _"You could always just smite the witch."_ Cas said.

"You think that would work?" Sam asked.

 _"Well, there are a few exceptions, but smiting works with just about everything,"_ Cas answered, _"I see no reasons why this witch would be different."_

"So what's going on?" Dean asked.

"Cas thinks I should just smite the witch." Sam explained.

"You can really do that?" Dean asked.

"Apparently." Sam replied.

"You wanna try it on this thing?" Dean asked, "I mean, maybe we should test this out on smaller game first."

Before the conversation could go on, they could hear Crowley start whistling "somewhere over the rainbow."

"Wow." Crowley said upon seeing them, "If it isn't the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. Your new houseguest-so misunderstood."

The boys looked confused.

"Neither of you saw _Wicked?"_ Crowley asked.

"What did she say to you?" Sam asked.

"Something along the lines of..."Crowley began, then he hissed loudly.

" All right, well, I'm gonna go get some holy oil and a lighter, dick bag." Dean said, "It still oughta work."

"I know what she's looking for." Crowley said quickly.

"What does she want?" Sam asked.

"I'd be happy to tell you, as soon as I get to stretch my legs." Crowley said,

Dean unlocked the neck cuff while Sam held a gun and Crowley and he stood up.

"Oh." Crowley breathed, "Ahh."

"All right." Sam said, "What does the witch want?"

"Give me a moment." Crowley replied, "I still need to air myself out."

Dean pulled his gun and fired a shot, barely missing Crowley.

"I think you've aired out enough." Dean said.

"Rude." Crowley responded, then he held up a piece of paper with the word "key" written on it.

"Key?" Sam responded, "What key?"

" I haven't the foggiest." Crowley admitted, "Had to send her on a merry chase before she could melt me. Told her your boys keep the keys in the kitchen. You do have a kitchen in this crap hole, don't you?"

When the boys entered the kitchen, their guns at the ready, it was a complete wreck.

"Damn it, I just cleaned in here." Dean cursed.

"Really?" Sam responded.

"Looks like we got a witch here." Dean said, ignoring Sam's last comment.

Suddenly someone entered from behind them and the boys swung with their guns drawn. When they saw it was Charlie and Dorothy they put them away.

"Sorry." Charlie said, "We raided your gun range. Made us some poppy bullets. They won't kill the witch, but they will stun the crap out of her."

"That's my girl." Dean said with a proud look.

"There was only enough for four bullets so...make each shot count." Charlie instructed.

"Now we just have to find her before she finds whatever the Hell's she's looking for." Dorothy replied.

"She's looking for a key." Sam spoke up.

"How do you know?" Charlie asked.

"Little birdie told us." Sam answered, "Ring any bells, Dorothy?"

"Unfortunately." Dorothy answered, "It's the key to Oz. There are magical ways into Oz-tornado, eye of a hurricane, whirlpool-but this key will turn any locked door into a portal to Oz. Insert key, twist, and presto, you're in Oz."

"How did the Men of Letters get the key?" Sam asked.

"I have no idea, but if she finds it, she'll go back and finished what she started." Dorothy said gravely, "She'll destroy all that is good in Oz. She's got armies of witches, flying monkeys. Many will die."

"What's this key look like?" Dean asked.

Dorothy pulled out her journal and showed Dean a picture.

"I've seen that key." He said, "Found it when I was doing inventory."

"Where is it now?" Dorothy asked.

"My room." Dean answered, "We got to get to that key. All right, Charlie and I will go look in my room. Why don't you guys buy us some time?"

Sam and Dorothy left.

"Charlie?" Dean began, "Safest place in this joint is the dudgeon."

"You have a dungeon in this place?" Charlie responded, "Of course you do."

"So maybe you should... Dean began.

"I am not hiding ,especially in a dungeon." Charlie protested, "Wicked witch, a key, a quest. Let's do this." She bounced away out the door, which did not instill any confidence in Dean.

"C-Charlie..." Dean called out.


	8. REALLY Stranger Than Fiction

Dorothy and Sam walked through the main part of the bunker.

"I can't believe I've lived here for 75 years." Dorothy was saying, "How long have you called this place home?"

"My brother calls it home." Sam corrected, "Me, I, uh-I haven't had that luck with homes."

"Me neither." Dorothy agreed, "Overrated, you ask me. Yellow brinks or not, give me the open road any day." At that point she turned and saw the wicked witch behind them. "Sam!"

She shot a poppy bullet at the wicked witch, but missed and the witch disappeared into a vent.

"She can get anywhere from there." Dorothy said urgently, "Split up, cover more ground?"

Meanwhile, Charlie and Dean were searching his room. Charlie opened a box only to find antique porn.

"You keep your porn meticulously organized, but not-" She began.

"Don't judge me." Dean cut her off, "Ah!" He pulled the key out of a box, "Yahtzee."

Charlie turned around and saw the wicked witch behind Dean. "Dean!" She shouted, alerting him to the danger.

The witch grabbed the key from Dean's hand and slapped him against the wall; stunning him. She then prepared to throw green lighting at him.

"No!" Charlie shouted as she threw herself between Dean and the green lighting, which she caught square in the chest, all of it, then fell to the ground, motionless. Dean stood up and shot the witch with a poppy bullet, but she disappeared into a vent again.

"Charlie?" Dean said desperately, "Charlie?" He bent down and shook her but got no response. "Charlie?!" He started to tear up as he cradled her head in his hand. Regaining a semblance of composure, Dean carried Charlie to his bed and laid her down. Charlie?" He wiped the hair out if her face. "Charlie." He started to panic. No!"

"Dean!" Sam's voice called out from the hallway.

Dean whipped around. "Sam!"

Sam entered the room and his eyes immediately went to Charlie. "What happened?"

"The witch-the witch was about to put a whammy on me, and she jumped in front and got zapped." Dean explained, "I think she's gone."

Sam's heart stopped, then plummeted into his stomach.

 _"You can still save her, Sam."_ Castiel's urgent voice broke trough Sam's shock.

"What?" Sam said, allowed, "How?"

"I just-" Dean began, then it hit him, "Cas again? Is it about Charlie?"

"He says I can save her." Sam explained, "How do I do it?"

 _"Just trust your instincts."_ Cas encouraged him.

"Okay, I think we've already covered that I have no instincts!" Sam snapped.

 _"Put your hand somewhere on her body,"_ Cas instructed, _"We usually use the forehead, but anywhere will work. Then think of her being alive."_

Sam approached Charlie and laid two fingers in her forehead. She gasped and sat up. "Merry Christmas."

"Charlie?" Dean asked.

"Uh." She replied, a little out of it, "Hey, I know you."

"I told you to stay in the dudgeon." Dean said.

"Bet you say that to all the girls." Charlie quipped.

"Now, about the witch." Sam said.

"That's a good question." Dean replied, "I, uh, -I clipped her with a-with a poppy bullet. I think she's gone."

"No," Dorothy said, entering the room, "She's wounded. We should still have some time. She could still be in the air vents."

Charlie tried to get up from the bed, but was still woozy. "No." Charlie began, protesting her body's refusal to corporate, "No, no. We-we have to-we-"

Dean steadied her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa."

"Just go." Dorothy said, "We'll catch up."

Charlie gestured to Sam saying, "M-my gun's over there. There's one bullet in it."

Sam grabbed the gun and the brothers left.

"Can we be best friends now?" Charlie asked Dorothy weakly.

After a moment, Dorothy said, "I guess."

"I had the weirdest dream when I was out." Charlie began, "It was Christmas, my parents were alive, and-"

"Dream?" Dorothy interrupted, "Charlie, you died. Don't worry about it, through. You're not a real hunter until you've died and come back again."

"Slow down." Charlie said, "Why would you think I died?"

"Heaven-it's your dream life." Dorothy explained, "And if you were zapped by the wicked witch, instant death. I would know. She killed me, too."

"Okay." Charlie responded, "Let's rewind here a bit. When did you die?"

"In Oz." Dorothy began, as if it obvious "My father was obsessed with his work as a Man of Letters, and then I was born...and nothing changed. He would keep his work a secret, but I was such a curious kid. I was always looking for trouble, looking for the next big adventure."

"I know the feeling." Charlie said.

"I stowed away on one of his cases, wound up in the Emerald City, accidently got left behind." Dorothy continued, "It was terrifying.""

"Well, what happened?" Charlie asked.

"I met up with these three freedom fighters, and they thought I was a child of destiny chosen to kill the Wicked Witch." Dorothy explained, "They protected me, and then the witch turned them into-"

"A scarecrow, a loin and a tin man?" Charlie guessed.

"And then she hunted me down and killed me." Dorothy finished.

"Yeah, that never made it to the books." Charlie said.

"Sometimes real life is darker than fiction." Dorothy replied.

Meanwhile they boys were combing the main room.

"Why haven't you moved in?" Dean asked suddenly.

"Is now really the time for this, Dean?" Sam replied.

"Well, just asking." Dean said.

"Look, I never had what you had with mom and dad, okay?" Sam almost snapped.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.

"I don't have any memories of home." Sam explained, "And whenever I've tried to make a home of my own, it hasn't ended well."

"Yeah, but, a lifetime of abandoned buildings and crappy motel rooms." Dean argued, "I mean, this is about as close to home as we're gonna get, and its ours."

 _"You know, Sam, I think Dean might have a point."_ Cas spoke up.

"Oh, you stay out of this." Sam replied.

Meanwhile, Dorothy and Charlie left Dean's room as they continued their conversation.

"And what about the books?" Charlie asked.

"Revisionist history." Dorothy sneered, "That's my father's way of undoing what happened to me. But I knew the truth. When the witch came to our world, I became a hunter and my father wrote those silly books."

"Don't you get it?" Charlie replied, "The books aren't silly. They're guidebooks filled with clues he left for you. Haggerty pored through each one, and his research led him to undercover the poppies, so maybe there's something else from the books we can use, preferably something with a pointy end."

Dorothy visibly lit up as something dawned on her. "You are a genius." She declared, "Come on. We've got to get to the garage."

"There's a garage in this place?!" Charlie replied, "Oh, boy."

Meanwhile in the main room, things were about to take a turn for the boys.

"Clear." Sam said, when he realized the witch wasn't in the area.

"I got nothing." Dean added.

"What do you think?" Sam asked, "Is she gone?"

Dean turned and found to his horror the wicked witch grabbing Sam and almost shooting her green lighting at him. "Sam!" Dean rushed them and knocked all three of them over a table. Before they could recover the witch placed her hands on their foreheads and Dean's eyes flashed green, but Sam was strangely unaffected. The witch let out a distressed hiss. Sam threw her into the wall and got up hurrying over to her. He put his hand on her forehead, ready to smite her, then he hesitated, worrying, if he did it while Dean was under her control, would he be hurt, too?

Suddenly Sam felt a thick arm around his neck. "What are you?" The wicked witch, speaking through Dean demanded.

Sam pushed the arm away with all his strength, then teleported from the room.

The girls got to the huge beautiful garage at the same time Sam landed in to in a heap on the floor.

"Sam!" Charlie shouted as the girl rushed over to him. "What happened?" She asked as she helped him upright.

"The witch got the jump on me and Dean," Sam explained, "He's got him under some sort of...mind control."

"Why didn't she get you, too?" Dorothy asked.

Charlie and Sam exchanged glances then Sam said, "I don't think she could. You see, I'm...an angel."

"An angel?" Dorothy repeated, "They're real?"

Charlie and Sam nodded.

"And he is one?" Dorothy asked.

"Well, I use to be human," Sam explained, "But a month ago there was this thing, and I turned into an angel. It wasn't really important until now, so we didn't think to mention it."

"No problem." Dorothy said. After taking another moment to process the information just thrown at her she looked around and spotted a motor cycle. "Yes." She grinned, "I knew those boy scouts would keep it for me."

The trio rushed over to the bike and Dorothy started to take items out of the saddle bag. She held up a mask.

"Is that...?" Charlie began.

"Yeah." Dorothy answered sadly, "He didn't make it."

"Ooh." Charlie moaned.

Dorothy recommenced with digging through the bag. "Please be here." She pleaded, "Please be here. Yes!" She pulled out a pair of ruby red high heel and held them aloof for a moment in victory.

"I don't believe it." Charlie said, "Did you really walk down a brick road in these?"

"No." Dorothy admitted, "I never actually wore them. Seemed kind of tacky wearing a dead woman's shoes. Plus, I'm no good in heels, you know?"

"I don't suppose we could just wish her away?" Charlie asked.

"Sorry." Dorothy replied, "Another thing the books got wrong. But, like the poppies, these have magic from Oz-sharp magic."

"Oh." Charlie responded, "Death by shoe?"

"There you are." A voice that sounded like Dean's but unusually deep said from behind them.

"I take it that's not his Batman voice." Charlie said nervously.

"No, he's still possessed." Sam said.

"I missed you, my pretty." The Wicked Witch/Dean said, as he walked towards him, "Killing you a second time will be just as sweet as the first."

"Dean I know you're in there. " Charlie tried, "You can't let the witch do this. Is she opens the door, she's going to destroy Oz."

Before anyone could stop him, the possessed Dean grabbed Charlie by the shoulder and smashed her through a glass window.

"I have no intention of escaping to Oz." The Wicked Witch/Dean said, "I'm going to bring my armies here."

In the main room, the Wicked Witch climbed the stairs in the main room with a handful of ingredients for a spell. She sat it down in front of a door. She mixed the spell then inserted the key into the door. She looked into Oz gazing upon a black castle with rolling red clouds in the sky, then let out a cackling scream.


	9. The Witch Is Dead

"Don't worry." The Wicked Witch/ Dean said, "You'll join Dorothy what right after you watch her die."

Sam stepped in front of Dorothy. "You'll going to have to get through me, first."

"Gladly." The Wicked Witch/Dean said with an almost sadistic smile on his face.

"Sorry about the nards, Dean." Charlie said weakly before he could take a step further, then kicked him between the legs, causing him to double over in pain.

Dorothy threw a ruby high heel to Charlie.

"Go." Sam instructed them, "I'll buy you two some time."

Charlie and Dorothy left as Sam turned to face his possessed brother.

"You know you can't hurt me without hurting him." The Wicked Witch/ Dean warned.

"I think he'll understand." Sam replied.

In the main room, the wicked witch was calling her flying monkeys through the door. They split out of the black castle. She was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn't notice Dorothy and Charlie sneaking up behind her, shoes at the ready. Then Dorothy raised her shoe and struck the witch in the back on the head, causing her to go stiff and turn around to find Dorothy and Charlie behind her.

"Now heel!" Charlie shouted, then stabbed the other slipper into the witch's chest, causing her to fall to the ground.

Back at the garage Sam and possessed were in a fierce battle, and Dean was about to strike another blow when his eyes flashed green as the spell was broken.

"What the Hell just happened?" Dean asked, confused.

"I think Charlie and Dorothy." Sam replied.

Back in the main room, Charlie and Dorothy were struggling to close the door before the flying monkeys got there. They barely shut it in time and then Dorothy opened the door to make sure. It was just an empty bunker hallway now. Meanwhile, Charlie searched witch's cloak finding and removing the key to Oz. They heard the boys franticly making their way back to the room to see what happened. When she saw them she smiled and wave, showing them the key. "Ding-dong, bitches." She said triumphantly.


	10. Over The Rainbow

A few hours later Sam, Dean, Charlie and Dorothy regrouped the garage which now held the Impala.

"Baby looks good in here, hun?" Dean was saying.

"Not bad." Sam grinned.

At that point Charlie cut in, motioning to side. "Dean..."

While they went off, Sam had something she needed to give to Dorothy. "Dorothy, I, uh-I found something in the archives. " He began, "Pretty sure it belongs to you." He handed her a copy of _The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz._

Dorothy smiled. "You have no idea how odd it is having a series of books written about you."

"Actually, I-I do know, un, and it is definitely weird." Sam agreed, "But you know what? End of the day, it's our story, so we get to write it."

Meanwhile, Charlie and Dean were having their own conversation. "So, thanks for the slumber party..." Charlie began.

"Mm." Dean replied.

Charlie lowered her voice as she continued, "...and bringing me back from the dead."

"Uh, I didn't." Dean said.

"Don't B.S. a B. -" Charlie began, but then it dawned on her, "Sam?"

Dean nodded.

"Okay, I'll thank him in a minute," Charlie said, "But am I a zombie now? Do I need to east brains?"

"No, no, no." Dean said quickly, "You're not. You're gonna be fine, alright? I mean, Sam's new to it, but no one's ever turned into a zombie before with this method, at least to my knowledge."

And with that they rejoined Sam and Dorothy.

"Not bad for a bunch of librarians." Dorothy admitted, "You mind keeping an eye on my bike for me?"

"Yeah, yeah, as long as you don't mind me taking it for a spin once in a while." Dean replied.

"Deal." Dorothy agreed, "Thank you for everything. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a rebellion to finish." She turned to Charlie, "So, you coming or what?"

"What?" Charlie responded, "With you? To Oz?"

"Yeah." Dorothy replied, "You said you were looking for adventure. Well, here it is ,Red. Come help me find my damn dog."

"You have no idea what's in Oz." Dean warned, looking concerned, "I mean, t-there's flying monkeys, armies of witches. There's all kinds of danger."

Charlie lit up. "Promise?" Then she jumped to hug Dean, then Sam.

"If you need anything, just, uh, tap your heels together three times, okay?" The tall angel requested.

"Me?" Charlie responded, "What about you crazy kids? You gonna be alright without me? Take care of yourselves, boys."

Dorothy and Charlie turned and inserted the key into the double doors at the end of the garage. When they pushed it opened it revealed a beautiful landscape, with a yellow brick road running through it. They could even make out what to be the Emerald city in the distance. The pair walked into Oz. Charlie looked back one last time and Dorothy saluted, then the doors closed behind them.

Just to be sure, Dean and Sam pushed the doors back open but now it was just the underground tunnel leading out of the garage.

"Think she'll be back?" Dean asked wistfully.

"Of course." Sam answered, "There's no place like home."


	11. Deadly Case Of Mistaken Identity

It had been a weak and a half since Charlie had left for Oz, and once again things had fell back into their usual rhythm. Case in point, looking for a way to get Sam his own body, which was what they had been doing when Dean started complaining of the lack of food in the bunker which prompted Sam to fly out on supply run.

He was grabbing a bag of chips when he realized he was being fallowed. His follower had did a fairly good job at first, but in a white pharmacy coat, he wasn't exactly conspicuous.

As Sam exited the quick mart he looked around and saw the pharmacist behind him. "Why are you following me?"

In response an angel blade fell out from the man's sleeve.

Sam immediately went for his own and raised it as the angel came at him, his own blade raised as well. Sam slashed the other angel's hand, surprising him enough to grab his wrist and take off with him.

Sam landed in a heap on the bunker floor, causing everyone to jump back a little. Then they noticed he hadn't returned alone.

"Who the Hell is that?!" Dean exclaimed.

"That's what I want to know." Sam replied, pinning the angel down to the ground.

Dean and Sam dragged the angel down to the dudgeon stopping when they remembered the place was already occupied.

"Hello boys," Crowley said, "Brought me a new playmate?"

"What are we gonna do about him?" Dean whispered.

Sam thought a minute then called out, "Unchain him and take him upstairs, ask the others to watch for a little bit while we have some alone time with this guy. I'll start stringing him up."

Dean went upstairs and Sam threw the semi-conscious angel on the ground and grabbed a chain from the ceiling.

By the Sam had finished restraining their prisoner, Dean arrived with Linda and Hael. "Listen up, Crowley," Dean said as he undid the chains, "You are going to be on your best behavior for them or they are going to run you though."

Linda was holding a gun and Hael had her blade. "Come on," The angel said, sticking it in Crowley's side then the trio marched up the stairs.

"Does she know who you are?" The angel asked. It was the first thing he had said since his capture.

"What does that mean?" Sam asked.

"I mean, does she know she's working with one of Heaven's most wanted?" The angel elaborated, more than a hit of mocking in his tone, "I mean, I nearly missed you myself, but you matched the vessel's description exactly. I could see why she would get mixed up."

Suddenly it all snapped together for Sam. "Dean," He gapped, "He thinks I'm Cas." Then addressing the man himself, "Cas, he thinks I'm you."

 _"I got that, Sam."_ Cas spoke up in Sam's head soberly.

"Well, that explains a lot," Dean said, trying cover-up how alarmed he was, "I mean, every angel's gotta be out to get him. This was bound to happen sometime." Then turning to the angel he asked, "So, who else knows about this? Is it just you, or, uh, do you have friends we need to worry about?"

"What do you mean _think?"_ The angel asked, starting to see something more was going on then what he thought, "Why did you talk to yourself in the second person, like you were somewhere else? Unless..."

"Hey!" Dean snapped, slashing the angel in the shoulder before he could think, "You don't ask the questions here, okay? We do. Now who else knows about this?"

For the next hour they tortured the angel, who refused to crack, taunting them and asking them the same question over and over again, getting closer to the truth.

"Alright," The angel rasped finally, "I'll make a deal with you. I'll tell you everything I know, if you tell me what's going on with him."

"That's not how it works here." Dean said, "This is not a negotiation. You tell us what we wanna know, and you get squat, _that's_ the terms here!"

"Come on, you're going to kill me anyway," The angel reasoned, "At least satisfy my curiosity before I go."

Dean and Sam exchanged looks. They had to admit, it wasn't a bad idea.

"You go first." Dean ordered.

"Fair enough," The angel conceded, "There's a new leader, Bartholomew, Naomi's old protégé, been organizing the angels. He wants Castiel dead, same as everyone else. He's just a little more pro-active about it."

Both Sam and Dean's hearts plummeted. This did not bode well for either Cas or Sam, as long as he was in Cas' body.

"That's it." The angel said, "Now pay up."

While they had their reservations they told the angel everything. Last wish of dying man and all.

"Wow," The angel said, as surprised as they all had been, "That's-that's something right there. I don't even know what to call that."

"You won't have time to figure it out," Dean said, aiming the blade at the angel chest, about to stab it when suddenly an arm reached out and grabbed his wrist, moving it away from the angel, who chuckled, "I'd find a new vessel if I were you, Sam." He warned, "If I found him, and by extension you, others will. And when that happens...well, let's just say it won't work out well for either of you."

"Alight, that's enough out of you." Dean said, before stabbing the angel in the chest. He bled light and then went limp, an imprint of broken wings in the wall.

Everyone was silent for a moment, then Dean said, "You okay, Sam?"

"Yeah," Sam replied, "Just a little rattled. Cas?"

 _"Fine."_ Castiel spoke up from Sam's mind, _"I...knew something like this was coming. I'm just sorry you got caught up in it, Sam."_

"So," Sam said, "What's the plan now?"

Instead of responding, Dean marched up the stairs into the main area where the Trans and Hael were grading Crowley. "Okay, listen up!" He said, "I need Crowley back in that hole, then everyone on the books. Until Sam gets his body back, everything and anything else is on hold!"


	12. A Most Unusual Coven

Well, thanks anyway," Dean said, before hanging up the phone and crossing another name off the list.

They had finally resorted to asking any contacts they had for help with the matter after exhausting all other resources, something they hadn't done before because they were trying to keep a lid on the whole species-change thing.

"Is there anyone else on the list?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah," Dean said, "Edna Martians, a witch out of Tennessee. "

"Dean, she was like, ninety," Sam pointed out, "She's probably dead by now."

"Dude, that's like twenty for witches," Dean said dialing the number.

"Hello?" A female voice they didn't recognize said on the other end of the line.

"Hey, uh, who is this?" Dean asked.

"Lola Martins." The voice said, "Why do you have my grandmother's number?"

"She's an acquaintance of ours." Dean explained, "We were hoping she could help us out with something."

"I'm sorry." Lola replied, "She pasted on a couple of years ago."

Dean's heart sank.

"Maybe I can help you." Lola suggested.

"I don't think so, miss." Dean said.

Before Dean could hang up, Lola said, "If it's a witchcraft thing, she taught me magic. I even have my own coven now."

Dean was silent for a moment then said, "Okay, can I shoot a hypothetical at you?"

"Shoot away." Lola replied.

"Say-hypothetically that a human was turned into an angel in the process their body was destroyed." Dean began, "I know it's a bit far-fetched, but just stay with me here. Say this person wants to get their body yet, is there like a-spell or something that could get their body back?"

There was silence for a moment, then Lola said, "I'll look into it then I'll call you back. Can I get your number?"

Dean gave it to her and then hung up. To everyone's surprised she called back an hour later. "Okay." She said, "One of my coven members had spell that can work, but I need to know exactly what's going on before anyone does anything."

They told Lola everything, and then she said, "Okay, come up to our place and we can get this all sorted."

And so, the entire group loaded up and headed to Tennessee.

After hours of driving they arrived at well-built older red brick house with a group of four girls standing out front. In the front was a young woman with long wavy brown hair with her arm around a frail-looking young woman with pink-gold hair. Behind them was a young woman with straight light brown hair and ruddy orange-brown skin, and a redhead with hazel eyes.

As they stepped out of the car the girl with the wavy brown hair and blonde walked up to them. "You must be Dean and Sam." The brunette said, "I'm Lola, we talked on the phone."

"Nice to meet you." Dean replied, "And this is?"

"Miriam." The girl spoke up, her eye never leaving Sam, "I'm sorry, Lola told me everything, but I didn't really believe it until right now."

"Believe what?" Sam asked.

"That there was a newborn angel." Miriam said, "I mean, I don't exactly know everyone personally, but I would've noticed you."

"Sam, what is she talking about?" Dean asked.

"She's an angel too." Sam replied.


	13. The Christians And The Pagan

"Angels are hanging out with witches now?" Dean asked, "You don't have any more over there, do you?"

"No, it's just her." Sam said, "So I guess you're the one who knows how to get my body back?"

Miriam nodded. "I was one of the angels that remade Anna's body. She saved by life on one occasion and covered for me on a screw-up on another, so I owed her. Only I had help from a few others."

"Just tell us what you need." The redhead spoke up.

"Yeah, we'll do anything we can to help." Lola added.

"It's very difficult spell-work," Miriam warned.

"Mim, you're family," Lola insisted, "We're going to help you, like it or not."

And so ,Miriam started giving out orders, things she needed people to get, things she needed people to do. She was while she was cutting up saffron Sam had acquired from a very specific region of the Middle East and Dean was sitting down the holy oil form the car, he asked, "So, a Miriam, just wondering, how does an angel wind up a member of a coven?"

"I landed in field a about a mile from the house," Miriam explained, "Lola and Kimmie saw me fall, and went to see what happened. When they found me I was hurt and disoriented, so they took me back here and they all tried to help me the best they could. They didn't seem mind that I was an angel, once I was able to tell them. After all that...and I don't know if this makes any sense...but I just couldn't make it matter to me that they were witches."

"I can understand that." Dean said. These woman had helped when she had no one, and she got to know them as people. They cared about her and she cared about them.

At that point Kimmie, the redheaded witch came through the door, followed by Hael and Kevin. "Okay, " Kimmie was saying, "It took a little bit, but I think we found everything you need."

"Why did you need a picture of Sam?" Kevin asked.

"So I know what to picture in my head." Miriam explained, taking the brown grocery bag from him.

After everything had been prepared, everyone was gathered around a slab that had been placed in the kitchen, "Okay girls," Miriam was saying, "When when we start chanting you need to have Sam's original body pictured in your mind, otherwise we're just pouring mess on a table, got it?"

The three witches nodded.

"Good." Miriam replied, "Now get ready." She began pouring a concoction of holy oil, saffron, and all the other ingredients she had them get, while she and the other chanted in Enochian. Once she had finished pouring a bright white light glowed from the table and the mass began to change form. The light began to fade and once it had, Sam's body laid on the table, its eyes closed, not breathing.

"Is that-?" Sam began.

"Your body," Miriam confirmed, "Good as new."

"Now how does he get back in it?" Dean piped up.

"He just need to leave Cas and go into it," Miriam said nonchalantly.

"Don't I need permission first?" Sam asked.

"It was your body to begin with," Miriam reminded him, "It sort of negates the rules a bit."

"And how do I leave Cas?" Sam asked.

Miriam gave him look like he had just asked her how to walk.

"He's new to this, remember?" Hael spoke up. Not that she was one to talk; Castiel had taken over Sam's body temporally to remind her to be patient on more than one occasion.

"Just focus," Miriam encouraged, "It should be just-"

"Let me guess," Sam cut her off, "Instinctual?"

"How did you know I was gonna say that?" Miriam asked.

"Let's just say in the last month I've discovered angels do a whole lot more things on instinct then I ever thought." Sam offered for an explanation, then closed his eyes. In few seconds a train of sliver left Cas' body witch collapsed on the floor. Simultaneously the train went into Sam's body. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up looking around.

"How you feeling?" Dean, asked his brother, hurrying to his side.

"Fine." Sam answered, then looking to Cas who was sitting upright as well, "You?"

"I'm fine as well." Cas replied.

Looking around, Sam realized something he hadn't thought of before. His body hadn't come back with clothes included. He let out a gasp, covering his manhood with both hands.

"Did you bring him some extra clothes?" Lola asked.

Everyone from Team Free Will exchanged awkward looks. "Honestly we didn't think that far ahead." Kevin finally admitted.

Amber, the British witch, sighed. "I'll go see what I can scround up."

Five minutes later Amber came back with a pair of _SpongeBob_ boxers, blue jeans, and a gray sweatshirt that was a bit too small. However, since Sam was feeling a draft and it was a miracle that she could find anything he could fit in at all, he wasn't going to complain. He did however, wish she could have found some shoes.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Castiel asked Miriam as everyone was preparing to head out, "It's crowded, but, you don't look like you take up much room."

Miriam smiled indulgently. "I'll be fine," She assured him, "I have my sisters."

"But these witches are human," Hael, who was walking on the right side of her said, confused.

"I think she means her honorary sisters," Cas explained, "Am I right?"

"It's something like that," Miriam confirmed. She glanced over to the girls. Kimmie and Amber had started bickering over something and Lola rolled her eyes.

Just then Sam came over to them. "Hey," He said, "I just wanted to say again, thanks for all you help."

"You're welcome," Miriam replied, "And if you ever need anything else, just let us know, we'll come running."

"Alright," Sam said, "See you around."

"You too," Miriam promised before running back to the coven.

"Come on you two," Sam said, gesturing for Cas and Hael to come with him, "Let's go."

They walked over to the car and got in, they all drove off. Through the rearview mirror they could see the coven waving goodbye.


	14. Cuneiform

Sam picked through the pictures of a sheaf of drawings in red and black with cryptic symbols and numbers. "That's your "big...news," is that you, translated the tablet into...doodles?" He asked disdainfully.

"It's cuneiform." Kevin replied. When Sam and Dean just looked at him he said. "I-I hit a wall translating it into English. But I found this ancient codex, uh, linking the angel script to proto-Elamite Cuneiform and I was able to translate the tablet and footnotes into Elamite , which...is..."

"Doodles," Dean finished.

"It's extinct," Kevin replied.

"Well, can you read it?" Sam asked.

"No one can," Kevin admitted, "Scholars have tried for centuries."

"So it's a dead end?" Dean asked then he slapped the table in disgust as Sam put his sheaf of papers down on the table.

"N-not quite." Kevin sputtered, "Now, most proto-Elamite is abstract, but I was able to decipher one phrase from Metatron's footnote's. "Falling Angels."

"Okay, so, the footnotes refer to Metatron's spell?" Sam asked.

"Maybe." Kevin answered.

"Okay." Sam said, walking over to the bookshelf, "Well, maybe if we can decipher the footnotes, than we can reverse the spell and..." He removed three of a dozen books from the shelf.

"Punt those wings dicks back to Heaven." Dean said, slapping the table again, this time ready for action. " Present company excluded, of course. Where do we start?"

"Research." Sam answered, tossing one book in front of each of the other two.

Dean's expression was less than thrilled.

"We comb through the library," Sam continued, "See if we can find anything else on Elimate."

Dean read the title aloud. " _Zimmerman's Encyclopedia Of Extinct Languages...Volume One._ How many volumes are there?"

"24." Kevin answered.

Dean's mouth opened wordlessly.

"Don't worry, we've found them all." Kevin said reassuringly, then looked back at his own book.

"Awesome." Dean said then looked pleadingly over to Sam who cuffed and looked back down at his book.

Four hours later they still have nothing. Castiel and Heal had joined the group and aside from dividing out the work it added nothing. They even tried calling Professor Morrison but he took a sabbatical amongst the Trobrianders of Papa New Guinea, and therefore unreachable.

"Is anybody else exhausted?" Kevin asked, his head laid down on a book.

"I don't even need to sleep and I'm pretty brunt." Sam replied.

That was when Dean got an idea. "Well, there's one guy who's nothing but well-rested."

"Crowley?" Sam asked.

"I'm just saying we're not keeping him changed up for the one-liners." Dean pointed out.

"It's worth a shot, I guess." Sam replied.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Castiel spoke up, "We all know he's going to try to get something from us. And he's very good at being manipulative."

"Don't worry," Dean replied, " We won't fall for any of his "quid pro quo" crap."

Which is what lead to the entirety of Team Free Will standing in front of Crowley's chair, him staring at the "doodles" of Cuneiform.

"I've been politely asking for reading material for week, and this is what you bring me?" He said, pushing the paper back to Sam, "Pass."

"Can you Elamite or not?" Sam snapped.

"It's by no means my favorite of the ancient tongues, but yes." Crowley confessed.

"Will you help us read it?" Sam continued.

"Why on Earth would I?" Crowley asked.

"Because I was there that night." Sam said, "I saw what humanity did to you, what it's done to you."

Crowley scoffed.

"Like it or not now that you're human there's at least a little part of you that's not a douche." Sam finished.

"Sorry, Moose." Crowley said, "To the last drop."

Sam got on the table and leaned it over towards the former King Of Hell. "Crowley, the only reason you're alive is because my brother thought you might be useful."

"Ah, I thought it was because we had a bit of a moral delimia because he was human now." Cas spoke up.

"That too," Sam admitted, "The point it, so far you've done Jack. " He sighed shaking his head, "Back to plan B I guess." He stood up fully, took the paper and started to walk away, the others beginning to follow him.

"Which is?" Crowley asked.

Sam paused. They hadn't actually thought that far ahead.

"Plan B is we run you through with every weapon we have." Hael said harshly.

"That seems like a good plan B." Dean commented.

"Well, there's the stick," Crowley said, "Now what about the carrot?"

Everyone exchanged looks. "The carrot?" Sam asked.

"You know," Crowley said, "What do I get if I translate this for you?"

"Not being stabbed with two dozen pointy objects." Kevin responded.

"I still think translating this deserves a little more." Crowley said, "Like maybe being set free."

There was a pause, then Sam said, "Okay, I think we all need to talk outside for a moment."

"Isn't this is the exact thing we said we wouldn't do?" Cas asked, standing outside the dungeon with the others, "Falling for, as Dean put it Crowley's ''quid pro quo crap'?"

"Look, we're not doing anything yet," Sam said, "We're just talking about it. It's not exactly like he's a danger to anyone anymore. Apart from being human, any demon loyal to him is either locked up in Hell or dead."

"So he gets off for everything he did while he was demon?" Dean pointed out, "Including doing terrible things to the people in this very room?"

"You mean the stuff he's been beating himself up for since we locked him down here?" Sam asked.

"That's another problem." Kevin spoke up, "Even if he's not evil anymore, he's not exactly the most stable human being."

Kevin was right. Ever since he was turned into a human there had been two Crowleys: One the smug wheeler-dealer would try to turn any situation to his favor, the other a guilt-ridden mess that would break down and confess his sins to anyone who would listen, usually crying by the end.

"Might I suggest a compromise?" Cas spoke up.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"There's a cabin in the woods near here," Cas said, "We make one of the stipulations of Crowley's release that he move in there at least on a trial basis. That way we can check in one him and make sure he doesn't cause any damage."

"That's...actually not a bad idea." Dean conceded.

"So it's decided?" Sam asked, "We put the Crowley on house arrest?"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright," Sam said, "Let's go back in there."

"A cabin?" Crowley balked, "In the woods?"

"And you translate the notes first." Dean said, taking over.

"And why would I agree to this?" Crowley asked.

"'Cause it's the only way you're getting out of here." Kevin spoke up.

Crowley sighed. "Alright," He surrendered, "Give me the notes."

Sam slid a piece of paper with some symbols towards Crowley. "What are these?"

"Ingredients." Crowley teased.

"More specific." Sam demanded, trying not to take the bait.

Crowley shoved the paper back. "Ingredients...for a spell."

"Can we just kill him?" Hael asked.

Sam shoved the paper towards Crowley again.

"Heart of a Nephilim." Crowley read in a bore voice, "Cupid's bow. Grace of an angel."

Kevin handed him a second piece of paper with a variety of symbols. "And the rest of them."

"Not yet." Crowley said, "You'll get the rest when I get paid. Chains off. Now."

"No." Dean said, "That was not the deal. The deal was you give it all of it, then we cut you lose."

"Alright, you can just go to the other person who can read Elamite," Crowley snarked, "Oh, wait, there isn't anyone else."

Sam face contorted in anger. "Dean," He said, "Pull out you gun."

Dean did as Sam said as the angel handed Kevin his weapon. "Hael, you got your blade?" Sam asked.

Hael's blade fell from her sweater sleeve into her hand.

"Cas?" Sam asked.

The ex-angel looked for some sort of weapon, than hurried over to the wall and pulled off a hammer.

"Good," Sam said, then he turned back to Crowley, "Now, I'm gonna take these chains off, then you are going to translate the rest of this, and if you try anything, anything at all, things will get very to the painful, very fast.

Crowley gulped at he felt a flicker of fear. "Okay," He said, as Sam took off the chains, then went to the business of reading the paper.

"Obtain the ingredients-heart, bow Grace." Crowley begin reading, "Blah, blah, blah. Mix until the smoke shall rise from the ashes casting the angels from Heaven. Blah, blah-oh. It's irreversible."

Everyone froze with shock.

"What?" Sam said finally.

"This spell can't be undone." Crowley elaborated, "This is the new world order-we're stuck with it."


	15. Fallout

After that revelation, everyone, save Crowley, left the dudgeon and just sat around the table in silence.

"Well, there's no way." Dean spoke at last, "Crowley's lying."

"No, Dean, not this time." Sam replied, "Look. Metatron built the spell to withstand any attempt to reserve it. There is no putting the angels back into Heaven. It's done."

"But there has to still be something we can do." Castiel interjected, "Someway to help."

"Do you know how ridiculous you sound?" Hael scoffed quietly, then got louder as she continued, "Help angels? After what you did? They don't want your help, Castiel." She rose up from seat as she said, "They don't want help from any of you. They want your head. They should want all of yours heads because this is all your faults, he's just the one who shares the most blame." She pointed to Castiel, "So instead of trying to handle us, why don't you just leave us alone!" She slammed her fists on the table, then ran from the room and out the front door with tears in her eyes.

There was heavy silence for a moment, then Kevin stood up, saying, "I'll go talk to her."

"Kevin, no." Sam said quickly, grabbing the prophet's wrist, "She's still dangerous, and really angry right now."

"All the more reason to go after her." Kevin said, "Look, she still probably likes me, right? I mean, I didn't do anything that made the angels fall." Noticing Cas out of the corner his eye, he added quickly, "No offense."

"None taken." Cas replied. _Because I deserve it. I deserved every word she said, too._

"Look, she's still our friend," Kevin reasoned, "She's just in a bad a place right now. So I'm going after her and you can't stop me."

Sam let go of Kevin's wrist. "You're right." He conceded, "Go."

Kevin burst through the bunker door and discovered that Hael hadn't made it that far. In fact she only made it to the street. The female angel was sitting on her legs and hands, crying her eyes out, her hair a dark curtain covering her face. She was so distraught she didn't even notice the teenage prophet walk over to her until she felt him pulling her hair away and saw his face.

Kevin slightly wiped her tears away saying, "You need some help up? Unless you want my head on a pike, too."

"I never said anything about a pike." Hael said as he allowed Kevin to help her to her feet, "And no, I don't. I don't really want anyone's head on anything. I'm just so scared down here. I know it might look like it, but I am, and the thought of being stuck here...I just snapped."

"Come here." Kevin said, pulling the angel into a hug.

"At least in Heaven-there was order." Hael said, forming new tears, "There was purpose."

"Well, maybe down here you can find a new purpose, with us." Kevin suggested.

As they broke their embrace Hael asked, "Do you'll think the others will still want be around after what just happened?"

"Are you kidding?" Kevin replied, "After all the crap they've forgiven each other for, you're little outburst ain't nothing. But when did I forget how to use proper grammar?"

Hael laughed a little.

"Come on, " Kevin said, "Let's go before we get hit by a car."

Meanwhile inside, Sam, Dean and Castiel were having their own talk. "Cas, you know she didn't mean it." Dean said, sitting next to the ex-angel, "Well, probably not, at least."

"Whether she meant it or not she's right." Cas replied solemnly, "All this-it's my fault. I should have known Metatron was manipulating me, I should have listened to Naomi."

"Okay," Dean begin, " First, Naomi gave you thousands of lobotomies, brainwashed you into an angelic Manchurian Candidate, and let's not even discuss how many other angel's head she'd been in erasing memories form including yours, and doing God knows what else. Even if she had changed because of what she saw in Metatron's head, you had absolutely no reason to trust her. No one did."

"You did." Castiel pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure how much of it was trust, and how much of it was not wanting to gamble my brother's life in case this was one time she was telling the truth. And as it turns out, at the very least she had her information a little skewed. And, the whole point of manipulating someone is that you don't know you're being manipulated. We didn't see he was evil, either. Look, you may shoulder some of the blame for what happened, but what's done is done and there's no point in beating yourself up about it, okay?"

"Okay, Dean," Cas replied, "I'll try to take your advice."

"Good." Dean said, giving Cas a gentle slap on the shoulder.

"You'd do well to remember it next time you're blaming yourself for something." Cas added as Dean started to get up.

Dean froze and was about to respond when the door opened and Kevin and Hael stepped through it. "I think we're good now." Kevin said.

However as the pair walked down the stairs everyone felt on edge. As Hael walked up to Cas, the ex-angel went stiff in his seat like a frightened rabbit. "Castiel," She began, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said before."

"No, you were right," Cas replied, soberly, "This...this is our fault, particularly mine, and maybe, maybe we should just stay out of it."

"What did we literally just talk about?" Dean said, a bit exasperated.

Hael, however, had her own approach. She took Cas' hands and pulled him to his feet then wrapped his arms around him, startling him a little. "Uh, Hael," He began awkwardly, "What are you doing?"

"I'm not sure but when Kevin did this with me I felt a little better." Hael explained.

Sam laughed a little, shaking his head.

"You fixed an angry angel with a hug?" Dean asked.

"Well, we talked some, too." Kevin replied awkwardly.

Dean turned his to Sam and commented, "Maybe we've been doing it wrong all these years. That or the kid's the freakin' angel whisperer."

Cas gently pushed Hael away saying, "Maybe you should go clean up. You're, uh, covered in gravel, and tears."

It was true, Hael's leggings and skirt were stained with lose rocks from the road, as well and the elbows of her sweater, and her face was still slick from the tears Kevin hadn't whipped away. "Alright, " She said, heading towards the hallway with the shadows.

Later on the night Sam was walking around the bunker, something he had taken to doing a lot since he didn't need sleep anymore, when he heard something in the library. He went towards the noise and saw a light on. _"What the-"_ He thought, then as he came closer he saw Dean sitting at some of the tables with a stack of books in front of him. "Dean?" He asked. When Dean turned around to look at him Sam added, "What are you doing up?"

"Well, what are you still doing up?" Dean shot back.

"I don't sleep anymore, remember?" Sam offered for an explanation.

"Oh, yeah, right." Dean said, "I had actually forgot." Dean still sometimes forgot Sam was angel. It was just that other than his powers, he still acted just like human Sam, it was easy to forget they weren't the same species anymore.

"Did you forget you need sleep, too?" Sam half-joked, "Seriously, man, what are you doing up?"

"I was trying to see if there's any feasible plan B for the angel situation." Dean admitted, "Like, I don't know, get them in one area and set an electric fence around them or something."

"Let's call that plan C." Sam said, sitting down beside his brother, "Or maybe even plan D. Look, I know you're stressed because we can't the angels back into Heaven I am, but depriving yourself of sleep is not gonna help the situation. And it's not like we have nothing, we have the map."

"And what are we gonna do when that map starts lighting up?" Dean asked, "Sure, right now it's quiet, but sooner or later they're gonna start pulling crap, then what are we gonna do?"

"Cross that bridge when we come to it," Sam said, "Now, are you gonna go to bed or am I gonna have to knock you out?"

"I'd like to see you try." Dean challenged.

Sam sighed then started to move his hands towards Dean's forehead, two fingers together.

"Okay, okay," Dean said, batting Sam's hand away, "I get the point." Standing up, he added, "I'm going, I'm going."

Still, Sam followed Dean all the way back to his room, and sat down by the door as Dean got in his bed. Even after he was asleep Sam just sat down because, for some reason, he felt the need to watch over everyone tonight.


	16. Back To Busniess

A week later all was still quiet, which left the team with time to try to come up with an alternative plan for the angels, or at the very least double check in case Crowley was lying. At one point Sam and Dean had left on a case for an old friend of Dean's but other than that everyone had been completely devoted to research.

Which is why Dean came into the bunker one morning to find Sam pouring over a stack of books. "Hey." Dean said, as he poured himself a cup coffee.

"Hey." Sam replied, not looking up from the book he was currently engrossed in.

"You okay?" Dean asked, sitting beside Sam with his coffee.

"Yeah," Sam answered, "Just...uh...going through all this. Um, how's Kevin? He, uh-find anything?"

"Uh, Jack." Dean replied, "On about four days no sleep. Which I guess is better than Cas who passed out about an hour ago, and Ms. Tran is completely wired from _way_ too much coffee. I swear, the only two people about to not complete crack from sleep deprivation are you and Hael."

"Huh." Was Sam's response, "What about Crowley? Has, ah, anyone checked one since we got back?"

"No." Dean admitted, "But since the last time we checked on him he was trying to catch fish with a embororiry floss I don't think he's much of a threat to anyone."

"Good point." Sam replied, "But since it happened before his, uh, nervous breakdown, um, do you think he could might had been lying about the whole, uh, "Metaron's spelling being irreversible" thing?"

"Oh, Crowley lie?" Dean said sarcastically, "I do know one thing. The way his metal state is going I'm really glad he still doesn't know where the bunker actually is."

Just then Dean's cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Dean." A familiar female voice said on the other end of the line, "Jody Mills."

"Sheriff Mills." Dean said, before sitting the phone down and putting it on speaker, "Hang on. Sam's here, too."

"Hey, Jody." Sam called out.

"Hey, Sam." Jody replied, "Uh...I got a bit of an oddball here to pitch in your direction."

"Shoot." Dean said.

"A small town I cover outside of Sioux Falls-only crime to speak of being the occasional cow tipping." Jody begin, "Then last week...four people go missing."

"All right," Dean responded, "So, what makes you think this is our kind of weird?"

"I've got a witness who says he saw someone lift an S.U.V. to nab a girl last night." Jody countered.

The boys were silent a moment. "We'll be on our way." Dean said finally.

"Alright, we're gonna be back as soon as we can." Dean said to the others who were staying a few minutes later as he and Sam were heading out the door, "While we're gone please don't throw a party."

"Why would we do that?" Cas asked.

"I was kidding." Dean deadpanned, "But in all seriousness would someone check in on Crowley while we're gone?"

"I think we can manage that." Cas promised.

"Good." Dean said, "See you guys later. " Then he shut the door behind them.

A few hours later when the boys pulled up next to _Casey's Great Plains Diner_ Jody was already waiting for them. The parked next to the truck and when the boys got out they both hugged the Sheriff in turn.

"Sheriff." Dean said, "Lying off the blind dates, I hope."

"Yeah." Jody replied, "You bite your tongue, boy."

"Hey." Sam added in, as he embraced the woman, "So?"

"So." The Sheriff repeated, "Car was right over there, ass over tea kettle. Now, normally , if somebody told me that one guy lifted an S.U.V. , I'd tell him to take a flying leap, but after what I've seen..."

"Nothing's impossible." Sam finished.

"Uh-huh." Jody confirmed.

"And this matches up to the other missing how?" Dean asked.

"Well, four abductions, strong evidence left at every scene-literally." Jody explained.

"So, the first vic was a pastor?" Sam interjected.

"Yeah." Jody confirmed, "Door of his study was punched in. And the next two-engaged couple."

"Locked bedroom was ripped open." Dean added.

Mm-hmm." Jody confirmed, "And then we have our waitress with the topsy-turvy ride."

"Any other connection among them?" Jody asked.

"Yeah." Jody answered, "They were all members of Good Faith Church here. My, uh, my church back in Sioux Falls was in a tizzy over it."

"Hmm." Dean mused.

"What?" Jody asked.

"I didn't peg you for chruchy." Dean replied.

"Yeah." Jody said, "You know...chocking on a ladies' room floor 'cause of witchcraft kind of makes a higher power seem relevant."

That brought Dean to his next point. "Jody, are you sure you're ,uh, ready to jump back into the fray?"

"This wackadoo stuff keeps coming." Jody reasoned, "More I know, better armed I'll be."

"Okay, so, we have, uh, missing church people and super strength." Sam recapped, "Maybe angels harvesting vessels? Maybe their getting desperate enough to kidnap people."

"Don't get your pants on fire." Dean cautioned, "They suck."

Sam shot Dean a hurt look and Dean gave him an apologetic one back. _"Man, Sam is sensitive about that."_ Dean thought.

"You said there was a witness." Sam said, trying to move on.

"Yeah, well...more or less." Jody admitted.

This lead to the brother sitting in a booth at the dinner as Jody and a homeless man named slim joined them.

"Okay, Slim." Jody said, "My friends here want to talk to you about the missing girl."

"Honor." Slim replied, "Her name was Honor. Nice girl. Always left me meatloaves."

"Mm." Dean mused.

"Slim, why don't you tell us what you saw last night?" Sam requested.

"I heard a big noise, got woke, and there's somebody over there lifting a car up-like this." Slim lifted his hand above his head.

"And did you happen to see who it was?" Dean asked.

"It was too far." Slim admitted, "But I saw a light go off."

"A white light?" Sam asked.

"Blue." Slim replied, "Blue like fire. But not. Then she was-she wasn't there."

"Could you think of anything else?" Dean interjected.

"No." Slim replied.

"Okay." Dean responded, "Well...Slim, thank you for your time." He then took out his wallet and handed Slim a 20 dollar bill. Slim took it and left.

"Okay." Sam began once Slim was gone, "So no white light."

"No angel." Dean finished, "Has anybody talked to the victim's families?"

"It's next on my list." Jody answered.

"Okay, and you said that they were all part of the same church?" Dean continued.

"Mm-hmm." Jody confirmed.

Dean turned to Sam and asked, "Ready to get your worship on?"

That how they wound up at the Good Faith Church, sitting at large desk across from a neatly dressed young woman with auburn hair.

"We hope you enjoyed the tour." She was saying, "Any questions before we get you boys registered?"

"Uh, yeah, uh, look, um. Ms. Futchko-" Sam rambled.

"Oh, please...Bonnie will do just fine." She replied.

"Bonnie." Sam repeated, "Okay, um, we...love the church. We do. But...Well, we've heard that a few members have gone missing, and to be honest...that kind of scares us."

"Let me assure you, with our increase security, Good Faith had never been safer." Bonnie replied, "And those people who have gone missing, well, they are front and center in our prayers."

"What a relief." Dean spoke up, pretending to be put at ease, "Now, you must have been, uh, close to them."

"Well, we do share the A.P.U. bond." Bonnie admitted.

"The A.P.U?" Dean asked.

"Our chastity group...'Abstinence Purifies us'" Bonnie explained.

"Oh." Sam said, surprised and kind of wishing they brought one of the others, who were actually virgins, with them, "W-wow. You mind if we sit in on that, maybe see if it's for us?"

"I'm afraid it's members only." Bonnie replied, "I'm sorry, but it can get pretty personal."

"Then count us in." Sam said.

"Well." A please Bonnie said, "I'll be squirrel in a skirt. I'll be back in a jiff with the papers."

After Bonnie left, Dean leaned over to Sam and asked, "A chastity group?"

"Dean, listen, if all the members were in A.P.U., then maybe whatever took them is stalking virgins." Sam reasoned.

"And that Slim guy said he thought he saw fire." Dean recalled, "So what are you thinking, dragons?"

"Mm." Sam began, but then he looked up to see Bonnie returning and warned, "Sshh."

"All righty." Bonnie said, handing both of the boys clip boards, "You can just sign here, and your purification can begin."

"'Purity Pledge?'" Sam read aloud.

"It's commitment to your virginity." Bonnie explained.

"I don't think we can really un-ring that bell." Dean said, "You know what I mean?"

"Oh." Bonnie said, taken aback a little, "I see. Well...If you just ask for God's forgiveness for your sins and make a new vow of chastity, well, then, you'll be born again as a virgin in his eyes."

"So, you just hit the 'virginity do-over' button, and all is good with the man upstairs?" Dean asked, slightly glib.

"It's not a button." Bonnie said, looking shocked, "And...this isn't a piece of paper. I mean, this is your clean slate, you chance to be a virgin until marriage."

"Well, you had me at 'clean slate'." Dean replied, "Let's do this."

For whatever reason both Sam and Dean signed their real names to the pledge. Then they handed them back to Bonnie.

"Congratulations, Sam and Dean Winchester." Bonnie said, "You are both virgins."

"Ah." Sam and Dean said simultaneously.

Dean smiled sheepishly at Sam.


	17. Temptation

The A.P.U. meetings took place in the Sunday school room of the Good Faith Church, which was where Sam and Dean found themselves, the only men in a group of six women.

"Good afternoon, everyone." The group leader, a woman in her early thirties with blonde hair was saying, "I'm Suzy. I thought we'd begin with a silent prayer for my missing friends."

Everyone closed their eyes in silent prayer except for Dean who was still watching everyone. Sam noticed and cleared his throat. Dean quickly ducked his head.

"Amen." Suzy finished, "Now, does anyone have anything they would like to share?"

A young woman stood up, saying, "I wrote a new piece of verse. It's called 'Sex is a racket and God's tennis ball is in your court.'"

"And we would love to hear that, Tammy-later." Suzy replied, "Why don't we here from out new friends? Sam, what brought you here to reclaim your virginity?"

"Well, I guess because every woman I've ...ever...had relations with, uh..."Sam was struggling for words as every encounter he ever had flashed before his eyes and he realized that, in fact, half of them ended in some sort of serious bodily harm, "it...hasn't ended well."

"He ain't lying." Dean chuckled.

"Thank you for being here, Sam." Suzy said, either not hearing or choosing to ignore Dean's comment, "Stay strong. Stay pure."

"Stay strong. Stay pure." All the women repeated in unison.

"And you, Dean?" Suzy asked, "What set you on the path away from sin?"

"Uh, hard to say exactly." Dean replied, "Yeah. Sex has always felt-I don't know-good, you know? I mean, really, really good." Then he realized who he was talking to, "Uh...But, uh...Sometimes it just makes you feel bad, you know? You're drunk. You shack up." Dean smile, "Then it's the whole morning thing. You know, 'Hey, that was fun.' And then 'adios' you know? Always the 'adios'." He looked wistful, "But, you know, when you get down to it, what's the big deal, right? I mean, sure, there's the touching and the feeling all of each other, my hands everywhere, tracing everything inch of her body, the two of us moving together, pressing and pulling...grinding."

All the women started to shift uncomfortably.

Dean didn't seem to notice, continuing, "Then you hit that sweet spot and everything just builds and build until it all just..." He finished by making an exploding noise.

Tammy crushed her paper with the written voice in her lap. Sam cleared his throat again while giving him the bitchface.

"Yeah." Dean said, getting the point, "Uh...But the whole thing was just a little too, uh...sticky. So, uh, I got my 'V' card back." He slapped his leg, "The end."

After the meeting as the women put up the chairs, Sam decided to talk to Dean about his very detailed statement. "Hm." He began, "So, um...Wee bit of an over share, Dean?"

"I was purifying," Dean replied, "Hey, she look familiar to you?"

Sam turned around and saw Dean was looking at the group leader. "Suzy?"

"Yeah." Dean confirmed, "Swear I know her from somewhere."

"Oh, good, Dean." Sam said, exasperated, "'Cause that line never fails."

"Well let's find out." Dean said, leaving in pursuit of Suzy.

At about the same time Bonnie rushed up and tapped Sam on the shoulder. "Hey." He said, turning around to look at her.

"So?" Bonnie asked hopefully.

"So?" Sam repeated.

"How did you like the meeting?" Bonnie elaborated.

"Oh, I-I-I-I loved it." Sam managed to get out, "Yeah. Um, you know, I-I couldn't help but think of those who weren't here."

"Oh." Bonnie replied, "Honor. She's my favorite."

Tammy overheard them and got angry. At the same time Bonnie noticed another A.P.U. member stuffing cookies into a napkin for later.

"Would you excuse me?" Bonnie said, going off to scold the woman.

Tammy approached Sam, saying, "Her favorite? She has no idea what kind of girl Honor is."

"You don't say." Sam replied, recognizing the opportunity and seizing it, "Uh, Tammy, right? The poet?"

"Mm-hmm." Tammy offered for an answer.

"Tammy, why-why don't, um, you why don't you tell me what kind of girl Honor is?" Sam suggested.

Meanwhile, Dean was homing in his pray. "Are you sure we don't know each other?" He was asking.

"Yeah, I-I'm pretty sure we've never met, Dean." Suzy insisted.

"Hmm." Dean responded.

"Wait, you're-you're knew to town, right?" Suzy asked.

"Uh, yeah." Dean answered, "New to town. New to this whole chastity thing."

"Well, I provide individual counseling." Suzy offered, "If you ever need to talk-"

"So, everybody in the group, they dish to you?" Dean interrupted.

"They confide." Suzy corrected, "Abstinence is-it's really tough without support and education. Hey, you know what? I have some great books on the vow that really helped me. I-I live close. I'll just go grab them."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Dean said, "With, a, uh, with a kidnapper on the loose?"

"No, I'll be fine." Suzy assured him.

"Tell you what-why don't I walk with you just to be safe, okay?" Dean offered, "Just give me a second."

Meanwhile poor Sam was listening in exasperated silence to Tammy rambling on about Honor and he was almost certain at this point that the girl had nothing germane to the investigation.

"...And I bake real cookies for the bake sale." Tammy was saying, "Honor just brings Oreos!"

"Oh." Sam said, deciding to find a way out of this conversation, "You know what? Excuse me."

As Sam fled Dean walked up to him, grinning. "Guess who's taking the teacher home." He said, then giving a straight face added, "Research."

"You really think you're gonna hit that?" Sam questioned, "Dean, she's the chastity counselor."

"Yeah, I know." Dean said, as if his quest was something to be proud of, "What about you? Any luck?"

"You mean am I actually working?" Sam quipped, "As a matter of fact, yes, I am."

"All right, well, good luck with that." Dean said, then he walked back to Suzy. "Okay." He told her, "Lead the way."

"Okay." Suzy replied.

Sam turned back to Tammy with a resigned look. "Hey." He said, "Sorry. So, where were we?"

"Honor is going to Hell." Tammy answered.

 _"I don't think bringing pre-baked cookies to the bake sale is a damnable offense."_ Sam thought.

Jody was in the hotel room typing on a laptop when Sam arrived. "Hey."

"How was church?" Jody asked.

"Well, it turned into confessional." Sam answered, "Apparently, two of our vics, Honor and Pastor Fred, did the dirty."

"Oh, well." Jody said, more than a bit surprised, "They're not the only ones. Barb Blanton, our missing bride to be-"

"Yeah?" Sam perked up.

"Her mom said she heard Barb and her fiancé in Barb's bedroom." Jody finished.

"Going at it?" Sam asked.

"Well, she said she heard sex noises, then Barb crying, then Neil telling Barb it didn't count because it was under 30 seconds."

Sam chuckled.

"And then, two hours later, she heard a smash and saw a flash of light under the door." Judy finished.

"Blue light?" Sam asked.

Jody nodded. "You know, I'm thinking whatever this thing is, it's not going after virgins, even born-again virgins."

"It's taking virgins who break their chastity vow." Sam said, "So dragons are off the list."

"I'm sor-dragons?" Jody balked, "Those are a thing?"

"Yeah." Sam confirmed, "Too many things are things."

Meanwhile, Suzy and Dean had just arrived at the latter's apartment.

"Make yourself comfortable." Suzy said.

Dean watched Suzy take off her hoodie, revealing the camisole she was wearing underneath. She sat down on the couch with her back to Dean. Just then his cell phone rang and he saw it was Sam, who had called to try to warn Dean against what he was trying to do. Not knowing that, Dean silenced the call saying, "Not now, Cato."

Dean approached Suzy on the couch and noticed that she was crying. "I can't stop thinking about my friends." She explained, "I'm so scared for them. Would you pray with me, Dean?"

"Sure." Dean said, looking as uncomfortable as he felt, before sitting down next to Suzy.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Sam had resorted to trying Dean's other cell phone. He got his voice mail. "This is Dean's other, other cell, so you must know what to do."

"Dean." Sam said, his stress starting to show through, "Come on, call me."

Jody looked at Sam with a motherly. "You know, for being born again today, you sure look like crap."

Suddenly a possibly he hadn't considered before dawned on Sam. "Wait a second. Did you...get-"

"Born again?" Jody finished for him.

"Yeah." Sam confirmed.

"Oh, Sam." Jody smiled, "I don't make promises I can't keep. It's just...I enjoy church. I mean, after...after Bobby, Crowley...I needed something that made sense to me-you know, comfort, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess we're all looking for that." Sam reasoned.

"Except those that got it." Jody commented.

Sam looked puzzled.

"Come on." Jody said, "You and Dean? That's something special, don't you think? "

Sam looked at the window and shrugged. Though, if he was being honest, Dean had been great through this whole angel thing. Hell, he basically did his best to be a one-man support system, which Sam greatly appreciated.

He just wished he would pick up his damn phone.

Back at the apparent, Suzy was bending down to get books from the shelf, causing her cami to ride up, showing her lower back. Dean rolled his eyes and tried to look away. She then stood up with a stack of eight books.

"Okay." Suzy said, handing Dean the stack, "So, why don't you breeze through these and I'm gonna head to the little girls' room."

"Mm, yeah." Dean said, wondering how anyone could thick the stack in his hands was breeze-able.

Suzy left and Dean walked over to the entertainment center and sat the books down as his cell phone rang. He hit the answer button but before he could lift the phone to his ear he noticed a crack drawer with some DVDs in it. He opened the door wider and was shocked to fine two _Casa Erotica_ DVDs with pictures of a blonde woman in a bright outfit that left little if anything to the imagination holding maracas. He was holding them in his hand, staring at them when Sam tried to get his attention from the phone, by saying, "Hey. Dean? Hey, Dean? Are you there?"

At that point Dean made the connection that the over-half naked girl on the DVD was Suzy. _"So that's where I've seen her before."_

"Hello?" Sam continued, "Dean? Dean?"

Dean finally snapped out of his shock and raised the phone to his ear. "Sammy!" He said, trying to pretend like everything was fine, "Hey."

"What's going on?" Sam asked mildly concerned.

"I found something big." Dean replied.

"Yeah." Sam responded, "So did we. So, get's this-it's not a dragon."

"Uh-huh." Dean murmured, still readying the DVD covers and only halfway paying attention, Uh-ooh."

"Dean?" Sam asked, no clue what was going on.

"Copy that." Dean said, then quickly hung up as he heard Suzy coming back. He tried to hind the DVDs behind his back as he turned around to face her.

"Hey." Dean said, then unable to help himself, added, "Or should I say...'Hola'?"

"Uh, why?" Suzy asked, genuinely confused.

"No reason." Dean said, trying to keep his cool, "No reason."

"A-are you okay?" Suzy asked.

"Me?" Dean replied, "Ah-I'm great. Why?"

"Uh, you seem...I-I don't know, nervous."Suzy explained.

Laughing nervously, Dean replied, "Nervous? No. I'm not nervous...Carmelita."

Suzy's face fell in resignation. "So, you've seen my...work. Listen, I don't blame you if you want to be assigned to a new counselor. I-I get it."

"No." Dean said firmly, "No, no. Are you-are you kidding me? I mean you're-you're a freaking legend."

"No!" Suzy exclaimed, in panic, I-I am-I'm not the girl anymore. I moved here. I changed my name. That girl was-horrible."

Dean interrupted her, saying, "Listen, uh, Suzy, I've seen a lot of awful things, stuff of nightmares, okay? But you-you're the good dreams."

Suzy smiled slightly. The statement was oddly flattering.

"And nobody in Hartford knows?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, what am I suppose to say?" Suzy pointed out, "'Oh, hey, I used to be a porn star. Let's pray?' "

"Well...they do not appreciate you." Dean replied, "I mean...the things you can do-the scene with the tacos."

Suzy's smile got wider. "Yeah."

"Made me want to join a mariachi band just to be near you." Dean admitted.

Suzy looked at Dean enticingly. "Well, you are now."

Dean suddenly comprehended what she was saying. I am, aren't I?"

Suzy moved in on Dean, feeling her resolve slip away. "You're not like...the other guys in town, are you?" She asked, "You're kind of a...a bad boy."

"I don't know." Dean replied, "Why don't you ask me that in Spanish?"

"Eres un Chico malo?" Suzy repeated.

"Si." Dean answered.

Suzy quickly closed the gap between them and kissed Dean passionately. Dean pulled her head in and hungrily kissed her back...

A little while later, back at the hotel, Sam had a horrible feeling Dean was doing something that was very dangerous in this town had finally made the decision to take drastic action.

"Okay, Jody," He said, standing up from the table, "I'm about to do something that's going to shock you, but this thing is taking people who break their vows and it's been over an hour since we heard from Dean and Suzy."

Jody leapt up for her jacket.

"You won't need that." Sam said, "I promise I'll explain everything when I get back." Then he took off.

Sam landed in the apartment living room, only to find it deserted. "Dean?!" He called out, "Suzy?!" But he got no response.

He was too late.


	18. Smiting A Goddess

After finding his brother and the consoler gone Sam called Jody, and after sitting her down and explaining everything, they split up, Sam searching the apparent, Jody talking to the neighbors.

"Hey. " He said as Jody re-entered the apartment.

"Hey." The still slightly stunned law officer replied.

"Neighbors see anything?" Sam asked.

"Flash of blue." Jody answered.

"Huh." Sam said.

"You sure Dean was here?" Jody asked.

Sam held up the DVDs. "Oh, yeah. And I think he crossed something off his bucket list."

Not finding any other leads, Sam and Jody regrouped at the hotel, trying to find anything that appeared in blue fire. That was when a voice started to ring out in Sam's head. " _Sam, it's me, Dean. Listen, I screwed up and now me and Suzy and locked down in some kind of cellar. The others are now down here, too, except for Fred, apparently this thing took him, too. It was too bright for the others to see, Honor said it was like it was on. It took my phone and my spare couldn't get enough bars, so I really hope this works."_

"Hey." Jody said, getting his attention, "Virgins, fire-sound familiar?"

Sam read over her shoulder aloud, "'Vesta, Roman Goddess of the Hearth.'''

"In ancient Rome, six virgins were dedicated to this chick every year." Jody explained, "Their main duty was to tend to Vesta's heart."

"Wait, so, fire is a symbol of virginity?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, the girls had to be pure because fire is the symbol for purity." Jody answered.

"Huh." Sam said, "Okay, as long as Vesta's fire was kept lit, Rome received a good harvest."

"The virgins had to stay for 30 years." Jody continued, "If they broke their vows, they were buried alive."

"That goes with what Dean just said." Sam replied, "He said they were underground."

"What are you-" Jody began before it hit her, "People actually pray to you?"

"Not very often." Sam said, then he remembered something Castiel had mentioned to him once. "I think I know how to find them." He pulled out his cell phone, and got the dial tone. "Come on, Cas, come on."

"Is it okay if I keep reading until whoever you're trying to get in touch with calls?" Jody asked.

"Sure." Sam said.

Jody continued reading aloud, "Vesta was often enveloped in a blue halo of light, which she could control at will to disorient, to main-ohh-or to kill."

"Okay, what about some way to kill her?" Sam asked urgently, "A-a weapon or-or something."

Jody went back to typing. Just then Cas answered, "Sam?" He asked.

"Cas!" Sam explained, "What took you so long?"

"We just got back from Cowley's." Cas explained, "The good news is he hasn't killed anyone, but mental state had deteriorated some and he's invented fish jerky, which is as terrible as it sounds. Is everything alright?"

"Not really," Sam replied, "Dean's been taken, but I think I know how to find him. How do I track someone who prays to me?"

It was a good thing that they were figuring out a way to find the others, because Dean didn't like the way things were going, particularly the hushed conversation Barb and Neil were having in the corner.

"Don't, Neil." Barb was pleading, "Please don't."

"Shh. Shh." Neil hushed harshly.

"Don't do what, Neil?" Dean spoke up.

"Just mind your beeswax, pal." Neil shot back.

"Hey." Dean called out, marching to Neil, "Hey! Listen, we're all stuck down here together. So you got something to say, you say it."

"Okay, look, whatever that fireball thing was, it's taking the weakest and I am not gonna be next." Neil rationalized, "So, the way I see it, her leg's busted anyway." He motioned to Honor. "We serve her up. It could buy us some time."

"Screw you, Neil." Honor cursed.

Enraged, Dean shoved Neil to the wall. "Busted leg?" Dean said, "Try a sprained ankle, okay? Nobody's serving anybody up!"

"We are under the gallows, all of us." Neil argued," Give it Honor. It might save the rest of our necks, unless you have a better plan."

"Maybe I do." Dean warned, "Maybe we'll give him you. "Oh, what, you don't like that idea? Then shut up!"

With sacrificing their fellow captives clearly taken off the table, Dean went to the opposite corner and bowed his head again. _"Come one, Sam,"_ He prayed, _"It's getting kind of narley down here."_

"Okay, thanks." Sam was saying back at the hotel, "I'll call you when we get back."

"Maybe I should stay on the line for a little bit longer," Castiel replied, "At least until you get the trace."

"I think I got it." Sam said, "I think they're at ...some sort of farm."

"The old Wimmer farm." Jody said, suddenly, then jumped up to leave.

"Wait, anything on a weapon?" Sam asked.

Jody checked her laptop again. "Oak stained in virgin blood." She read, "Where are we gonna get a virgin?"

Sam suddenly realized something. "I'm a virgin!"

"I think we need the real McCoy here, Sam." Jody smiled, "And it probably needs to be human."

That was why they had to make a detour to the food bank to find Tammy.

"You need what?" She asked, looking at them in horror.

"Your blood." Sam repeated.

"Just a dab." Jody added.

"But...Pagans use blood." Tammy concluded, "Are you Pagans?"

"What?" Sam balked, "Pagan? No, look, it's for a weapon that-"

"You are in a House of God." Tammy declared, "Your psycho rituals aren't gonna fly here!"

"Okay, we don't have time for this." Sam said.

"I don't have time for devil worshippers!" Tammy retorted, "I'm calling the cops."

Fed up, Jody punched Tammy. "I am the cops."

"What the fudge, lady?!" Tammy exclaimed, trying to stop her bleeding nose.

Jody wiped some of the blood from Tammy's face. "Wipe your nose dear."

Having got what they came for Sam grabbed Jody by the arm and teleported, leaving a stunned Tammy in their wake.

Sam was getting better at flying and they arrived right at their destination. "That's gonna take some getting use to." Jody said pulling out her flashlight.

They glanced around the abandon barn. "Jody," Sam whispered before motioning for her to go one way while she went another.

Meanwhile underground Honor and Suzy were sitting together, the latter spinning her purity ring on the table.

"You broke, too, hun?" Honor guessed.

"Guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was." Suzy replied.

Honor laid her hand on Suzy's. "God forgives. You told me that yourself."

Just then there was a banging above Dean's head.

"Told you." Neil said, freaking out, "It's back for one of us! What are you gonna do now? Right, you should have listened to me-"

"Shh!" Dean snapped, "Shut up!"

"Jody!" Sam called out after finding the trap door.

"Sam?" Jody replied, heading back in his direction.

"Dean!" Sam shouted, "We're here! We're gonna get you out! Jody, I found it!"

Dean heard Sam's voice and climbed the ladder to the trap door. He banged on the door, calling out, "Sammy? Sammy! Sammy!"

"Hey, Dean, we're here." Sam said, "We're gonna get you out."

Sam started to tear off the door when he was flung into a nearby stall by an invisible force. He looked up, and to his surprise, saw Bonnie standing in front of him.

"Sammy, are you still there?!" Dean called out, worried.

"Yeah." Sam called out, trying to pull himself off the floor, "But we got company."

Just then Jody rushed in and saw Sam in the stall. Before Sam could warn her Bonnie grabbed Jody and shoved her up against a post. She yanked off one of her left glove with her teeth. "Now, now." She said, "Shh." Her left pointer finger glowed a bright blue.

"Really?" Jody said, showing no fear, "This is how a goddess acts?"

That gave Bonnie/Vesta pause. "What?"

"I'm sort of new to this, but, you know, a Roman deity burying people alive in a barn?" Jody replied, "Sort of pathetic, don't you think?"

Vesta punched Jody. "It only got pathetic when I had to start doing it myself. Because of the hippie from Bethlehem-before him, they practically threw virgins at me. And now-"

"They let your fire go out." Jody interrupted, "They forgot about you. Yeah, I know Sucks to be Lindsey Lohan, doesn't it?"

Vesta punched Jody again. "Actually, I figured, if you can't beat them, join them. That's right." She threw a trap off a slaughter table covered in blood. " I adapted! Now I chew on the cud of prayer. Heck...I even got a sweater set."

Meanwhile underground, Dean was running his fingers over the trap door. He found a rusty screw. "Screwdriver, anybody?" He asked.

Honor found scissors in a kit. "Hey." She said, "From the first aid kit."

Above ground Vesta threw Jody onto the slaughter table and began harshly tying her down. "Aah!" Jody protested in pain, then she caught Sam sneaking up behind Vesta, something the goddess was too absorbed in her monologue to notice.

"They use to beg to stay pure for me. And now I have to drag them kicking and screaming. And they're not even real virgins. They're born-again. You want to talk about pathetic?"

"Yeah." Jody replied, "You're a real charity case."

"Oh, no, sweetheart." Vesta seethed, "This isn't charity. I take what I deserve."

Just then Sam put a hand on the back of her head and Vesta's eyes suddenly burst into blue flame. She let out a terrified, pain scream and fell to the ground.

Jody sat up, untying herself, "Is she..." She began hopefully.

Just then the eyeless Vesta shot up feeling around the room for Jody and/or her attacker. It was actually rather disturbing. "What did you-" The goddess rasped, "How-"

Acting fast Jody pulled out the stake from her jacket, leapt off the table and stabbed Vesta in the chest. This time her entire face burst into brilliant blue flame and she fell to the ground, dead.

Just then Dean finally popped the trap door open. "What did I miss?" He asked, looking around.

The next morning at the hotel Jody was packing her things. "Heading out?" Sam asked when he saw her.

Sam hugged Jody. Dean walked to her and repeated this action. "Thanks for bailing me out."

"Oh, what can I say?" Jody replied, "I'm getting the hang of this."

"Drive safe." Sam advised.

"Thanks." Jody said, hanging out the door, "Don't get the door for me or anything."

Sam sighed heavily and sat on the bed. Despite his best effort to, he couldn't stop thinking about Vesta's death and the failed smiting. At least he hoped it had failed. He knew smiting hurt, that it was grisly, but he thought at least it was suppose to be quick. Just one burst of power and the victim was gone. But Vesta, Vesta had lingered, blind and in pain. Sam wasn't even sure how much damage he had even actually done. If Jody hadn't staked her, who knows how long it would've took.

Seeing something was clearly brothering his brother, Dean asked, "What's up?"

"What if there still is something wrong with me, Dean-something...really, really wrong?" Sam asked.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked.

"Vesta," Sam explained, "I smote her, and there was damaged, but she didn't die. And what damage I did do...by the time Jody got her it was a mercy killing."

"Well, from what I've seen, smiting isn't exactly pretty," Dean reasoned, "And if was your first time, and she was a _goddess,_ a weak Pagan goddess, but still. I'm sure those factors had some sort of a effect. I'm sure you'll get better at it."

That wasn't exactly comforting as far as Sam was concerned.

"That wasn't what you wanted to hear, was it?" Dean guessed shaking his head and sitting down next to his brother.

"That I'm going to get better at utterly destroying?" Sam responded, "Not really, no."

Dean took a minute to think then said, "It won't be like that, okay? Because you-you are not like other angels. You think and feel, and will only use your powers for good, and not other angels idea of good, _humans_ idea of good, you understand. But you got to have a little faith, Sammy."

"Um, faith in what, exactly?" Sam asked, genuinely having no clue what Dean meant with that last statement.

"In yourself," Dean said, "In all of us. No way are you turning into a death machine on our watch. Trust me, if you ever start going native, we will drag you back to your senses kicking and screaming. Seriously I will put you in a ring of holy fire in the dudgeon, cover the dudgeon with angel warding and barricade the door if I have to."

"How weird are our lives that I find that actually comforting?" Sam asked.

"They might have to invent a new scale." Dean said, standing up and starting to pack. Sam wearily picked up his own bag and headed for the door, still worried about what the future might hold, but a bit more confident that they could handle it.


	19. The Massacre

Part II

The Gathering

It was the middle of the night and a two car procession was heading down the highway. The first car was the Impala, which held Sam, Dean, Cas and Hael. The other held the Trans.

It had all started when Sam found what reports of what looked like some sort of angelic massacre online. When Castiel heard them talking about it he wanted to come along. Dean had been unsure at first, but together Sam and Cas had convinced them that the latter had enough training, and could handle himself. Hael had also heard about in insisted on going and Kevin said she wasn't going without him and Linda said he wasn't going without her. The trio was hesitant, but the others convinced as they have had relative training, and they agreed to let them come if they stayed in the car.

The trio got out of the Impala dressed in suits. Cas ducked back a second to look at Hael and said, "Keep an eye on those two, okay? Ms. Tran had a tendency to take incentive, and it usually gets them both into trouble."

"Don't worry." Hael said, "I will."

"And get us, if something unexpected happens." He instructed.

Hael sighed, wishing they trusted her more to handle herself, but nodded.

Satisfied, the three walked up to the cop guarding the road house and flashed their fake FBI badges. The cop gestured with an elbow for them to go inside. When they entered they were greeted with a horrific sight: Over a dozen men lying on the ground, butchered, broken wing imprints spread out around their bodies.

Dean noticed Cas stiffen out of the corner of his eye. "You know, you don't have to be here," He said, "You can wait with the others. Hell, it might even be a good idea, since you're-pretty much public enemy number one, now."

"No," Cas replied, firmly, "If angels are slaughtering one another, I have to do what I can to help. It is a risk we should be willing to take, don't you think?"

Sam shrugged in agreement, seeing the point.

Changing the subject Castiel pointed to the bodies. "These angels, uh, they were butchered. Much more violence than was required."

"Definitely took more than one or two killers to pull this off." Sam added.

"Hit squad?" Dean asked, "Bartholomew's people?"

"Well, Bartholomew has a faction we know about, but this could be somebody else entirely we don't know." Sam pointed out.

They covered the whole crime scene, but the angels who had done this had left no clue to their identity. Eventually they decided the best thing to do was regroup and plan out what they were gonna do. Somehow they wound up at a bar, Sam, Dean, Cas and even Linda sitting down with a beer while the underage Kevin was trying convince the underage appearing Hael to go out on the dance floor with him.

"Come on," Kevin urged, "Now I know there's a lot going on, especially with what happened to those other angels, but this might just be the thing to get your mind off it."

"Alright," Hael conceded, allowing him to lead her out onto the dance floor.

After the pair were far enough away, Dean asked, "Is there something going on between those two?"

"Don't know," Linda said, looking at the pair somewhat suspiciously, "But I can't help but wonder."

"You don't sound too happy about the possibility." Castiel observed.

Linda paused for a minute to gather her thoughts then said, "Look, I like Hael, I do, she's a very nice girl, but-they're not even the same species. And she can fly off the handle sometimes."

"It was only the one time." Dean pointed out, " And you weren't even there for that."

Linda shot him a harsh look.

"All right." Sam said, trying to make an excuse to leave, "I'm gonna get us another round."

"Nah." Cas said, also sensing the sudden tension, "I'll get it." He hopped off the bar stool and hurried away before anyone could protest.

"Well, I think I left something in the car." Sam said, heading towards the door, leaving Dean and Linda alone.

"Those, two, hun?" Dean said nervously, trying to change the subject.

Sam made it to the car and leaned up against it. He figured he would go back in a few minutes, after everyone had calmed down. In fact, there probably wouldn't even be a fight and everyone was over reacting.

Then he heard a voice say, "So I guess the rumors are true."

Sam turned around slowly and saw the angel that had started this whole mess, Metatron standing a few feet away.


	20. Secrets And Lies

"What rumor?" Sam asked, feigning innocence, as well as being genuinely curious about what rumors were going around about him, and if they could cause him any trouble latter.

"That Sam Winchester was possessed by an angel," Metatron replied, "At least, that's the more sane rumors. Somehow this outlandish one started that he actually turned into an angel. Really, have you ever heard such?"

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Sam scoffed awkwardly, deciding to hide the truth for now.

"I _am_ curious though, how did you get in there, and why has no one tried to get you out?" The ex-scribe asked, "I mean, they might have at some point, but from what I've seen they're pretty okay with you."

Sam told the first story that came to his mind. "He was dying after the trails, I needed a place to stay after the fall, so-the older one facilitated a deal."

"What, you keep him alive you can stay?" Metatron asked, a little skeptical.

"At least until he's fully healed." Sam added, "So, ah, what do you want, Metatron?"

Metaron's eyes narrowed. "How do you know who I am? I never told you."

Thinking on his feet, Sam said, "You're not the only one who listens to rumors." After a moment he added, "So?"

"Well, then you probably heard that I was the one who cast the angels out of Heaven." Metaron bragged.

"Yeah, I heard that." Sam replied ,trying to play his cool.

"And you know, at first I thought I would love it." Metatron continued, "But it's a big place. My solitude is getting tedious."

"Maybe you should've thought about that before hitting the eject button." Sam quipped.

"I see the boys are starting to rub off on you." Metatron said flatly, "But, I came up with a plan 'B'. Rebuild Heaven as the place God envisioned it, only with a hand-picked few. No more academic functionaries like Bartholomew. And no more stupid angels. " He considered for a moment then said, "Maybe some funny ones. I was actually looking for someone else to start up my little movement, when I noticed you. Then I had another idea. You seem capable enough, I could use someone like you in my ranks. So what do you say? Join me?"

That gave Sam an idea. They could keep an eye on what was going on and topple Metatron from the inside out. "Yes." He paused for a moment, then asked, "So, what happens now?"

"Now, you go back in there before you missed." Metatron said, "I'll find you when I need you. But don't breathe a word of this to anyone."

"Of course." Sam said, turning around to go back in.

"Oh, and what's your name, by the way?" Metatron asked, "I don't think you ever said."

Sam paused for a moment, then said, "Lot." A lot of angels had Biblical names, didn't they? Lot was as good a Biblical name as any.

"Never heard of you." Metatron replied.

Playing on the ex-scribe's need to feel important, Sam lowered his head a bit saying, "I was pretty low on the totem pole, I'm not surprised you don't know me."

"Well I do now, " Metatron said, "Now go."

Sam didn't have to be told twice. He rushed back into the bar, bursting through the door, and found the Dean, Cas, and Linda at their table, everything calmed down, and Kevin rather awkwardly moving Hael back and forth on the dance floor.

Sam hurried up to the table. "Hey, guys," He said, "You won't believe what just happened."

And so, after gathering them all around him, he told them what had happened with Metatron. Their reactions were mixed.

"Are you crazy?!" Dean exclaimed, "Dude, you can't decide you're gonna pull an inside job without consulting with your cohorts first! Basic common sense!"

"There wasn't exactly a lot of time for consulting, Dean." Sam replied, "I had to give him and answer then, and I didn't want to get into a battle on the parking lot."

"Why not?" Hael asked, "You're perfectly capable now."

"It would draw too much attention." Sam offered for an explanation, "Look, at least this way, we can find out what his plans are, what resources he has, and maybe even what other factions there."

"You have to admit, Dean, he does make a convincing argument." Cas pointed out.

"I can't believe what I hearing." Dean said, "Did everyone take crazy pills today and forgot to invite me?"

"Look, Dean, I'm sorry I didn't come get your guys, but what's done is done." Sam spoke up, "We might as well, use it to our advantage."

"Okay." Dean relented, "So, what when are you two meeting again?"

"He didn't set a date," Sam said, "Just that he'd get in contact with me when he was ready."

That turned out to be two days later.

Sam stood anxiously at the abandoned construction site he had been instructed to meet at when Metatron walking in his direction.

"Glad to see you showed up." He said.

"I told you I would." Sam replied. "So, ah, what's the plan?"

"First off," Metatron began, "I have a few questions for you."

Sam swallowed.

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad." Metatron assured him, "It's just, your-intimacy with the Winchesters means that you probably have some pertent information."

 _"So that's what he wanted me for."_ Sam thought, but said aloud, "Alright."

"First off." Metatron said, "Have they figured out the spell's irreversible?"

Seeing that no harm would come for the telling him the truth on that one, Sam answered, "Yes, they did a few months ago."

Metatron looked slightly annoyed, but said, "Well, I suppose there are worst things for them to learn about. So, what are they planning to do about it?"

"Right, now," Sam said, "Um, just-containment. Keeping us from doing too much damage."

"Really?" Metatron asked, doubtful, " _That's_ their plan?"

"No one really knows what they're doing here." Sam replied, "We're all kind of making it up at we go along."

"Okay, seems kosher." Metatron said, "What about the other angel I noticed with the group, the girl? Do you think she could be moved to our cause?"

"No." Sam said quickly. Hael might be not so sure about most of them, but she wouldn't betray Kevin. Sam knew that for a fact. Maybe he should have lied so they have her on the inside too, but he might also be better off on his own. More experienced at lying.

"Pity." Metatron said, "Well, I think that about covers everything, except for one. "He turned to face Sam. "Will you join me?"

"Yes." Sam said, trying to hide his true feeling.

"Perfect." Metatron said, with an expression of great relief and pleasure, "There's just one more thing I need from you."

"What?" Sam asked, trying not sound apprehensive. They needed Metatron to believe he had drunk the kool-aid completely.

"Nothing much," Metatron assured him, "I just need to be sure of your fidelity."

"You got it." Sam replied.

"No, I mean _really_ sure." Metatron said, "We have enemies who pose an immediate threat to our effort. They must be neutralized."

"Killed?" Sam asked, catching on.

"In a word." Metatron admitted, then he pulled out two yellow cards. "Here's the first name on your to-do list."

Sam read the name on his card and his heart sunk.

Seeing he was about to lose him, the ex-scribe commanded firmly, "Decide."

"I'll do it, of course." Sam lied. Of course he wasn't actually going to do it, but he didn't want him giving this name to someone who _would._

"Good." Metatron replied, pleased to see that the angel was for all appearances under his control.

"Now, is that all your needed?" Sam asked, "I should, ah, probably get on this."

"Really?" Metatron responded, "It's gonna be that easy for you?"

"No," Sam replied, "Which is why I want some time to...prepare."

"Alright," Metatron said, "That was all I had to ask you anyway. Contact me when it's done."

When Sam arrived back at the bunker Dean could tell something had gone wrong. Well, more wrong than he felt this situation already was. "What happened?" He asked, standing up, "Are you hurt?"

"No," Sam replied, "But we have problem. Metatron gave me a job."

"What kind of job?" Dean asked, even more worried than he already had been.

"A hit job." Sam said walking to the table.

"On who?" Dean replied, alarms officially going off.

Sam laid the card on the table for Dean to see. Dean's heart sunk when he read the name.

 _Kevin Tran._


	21. More Secrets And Lies

**AN: I'm posting early because I might got get a chance to this weekend. Company coming over. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!**

"Metatron told you to what?!" Kevin balked when the Winchesters told him the news.

After reading the card they had decided to gather everyone to explain the situation, thinking Kevin could use the extra support. Now they were starting to wonder if maybe they shouldn't have talked to him alone.

"I'm assuming you're not actually going to go through with it." Linda spoke up, instinctively pulling Kevin closer to her.

"Of course not," Sam replied quickly, "We just need to make him think I did."

"And how are we suppose to do that?" Kevin demanded, starting to freak out.

"Well, we don't know if he's following Sam or had him followed," Dean spoke up, "So we're going to have to do a little play-acting."

"Play acting?" Kevin repeated apprehensively.

"We're going to fake your death." Sam elaborated, "And you're going to have to go into hiding for a little while."

"Where?" Kevin asked.

"We went and set a motel room not too far from here." Dean answered, "We got warded so much nothing getting demon, angel, or mineral is getting in."

"That's all you have?" Linda questioned, "Warding?"

"We'll be grading him as well," Hael spoke up, "Castiel and I. We'll be grading both of you."

"Oh, no," Linda protested, "I am not sitting on the side-lines while some angelic has-been comes after my son. I want in on this."

"Ms. Tran," Sam tried, "This is..."

"Yes, I know this is dangerous." Linda cut him off, "Yes, I know I'm not as well-trained as you two. Yes, I once got us caught by hiring a witch. But I swear if you don't let me help I will find the most dangerous situation I can and but myself smack dab in the middle of it!"

The boys realized she had them fairly trapped. "Alright," Dean conceded, "But only if you do exactly what we tell you, even if that's get yourself to safety."

"Okay." Linda agreed.

"One more thing," Sam said, "Kevin, would you mind standing up for a second?"

Kevin did as Sam instructed then Sam grabbed onto his shoulder. "Okay this is going to...really hurt, so brace yourself, alright?"

Kevin closed his eyes and suddenly there was a searing pain in his chest, causing him to scream. "What was that?!"

"It'll make doublely sure he can't find you." Sam explained, "Only thing is I had to crave it into your ribs."

"Okay, we'll get Kevin set up," Dean began, "Sam, go make contact with the angelic has-been and give him some greatly exaggerated rumors of Kevin's death."

When Sam got the bar Metatron was already at the counter. He walked over to him and laid the tablets on the counter. There was some debate about whether to actually meet this demand, but they had no way to forge them, and Sam was going to have an eye on the ex-scribe and what he was doing with them anyway.

"Welcome home, sweethearts," Metatron said, gathering them up, "So the task I gave you, any hiccups?"

"No." Sam replied, his voice wavering just a little as he added, "Kevin Tran is dead."

"He was a threat, " Metatron told him, "But I flipped a switch upstairs, and now that Kevin is gone, there will be no more prophets. And what about Dean Winchester?"

"Uh, you didn't give me his name." Sam said nervously. It was then he noticed a dark-clothed figure in the far corner of the bar. The figure had a hood up over their head so Sam couldn't make out their face, but he was sure they were watching them.

"Not much for seizing the intuitive, are we?" Metatron was saying, "Lot, we are writing our own epic story here. To make that work, sometimes you have to kill your darlings. Alright, on to new business. While you were on assignment I went on a little recruitment drive. It did not go as well as I hoped, but I got one yes, and a couple who I'm fairly certain are thinking about it."

Sam's eyes kept going back to the person in the corner. Yes, he was sure they were watching them now.

"I'm sorry, am I boring you?" Metatron snapped, realizing he didn't have his "underling's" full attention.

Lowering his voice, Sam explained, "I think that guy is watching us." Then he pointed to the corner.

Metatron looked over in the corner and rolled his eyes. "Oh, I thought he wouldn't find us here." Then he called over to the person, "We see you over there. Come on."

The stranger apprehensively walked over to them, then pulled down his hood revealing a rather nervous-looking man with neatly clipped light brown hair.

"Lot," Metatron began, "This is Gadreel."


	22. Less Secrets And Lies

"Nice to meet you," Sam said, extending his hand to shake, "I'm Lot."

Gadreel looked at the hand like he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"I think he wants you to shake it." Metatron informed him.

Gadreel took the hand awkwardly and shook it.

"Probably been spending too much time with humans." Sam said, trying to ease the intensity, "So, ah, this is the new recruit?"

"Yes, I am." Gadreel replied, still looking a little nervous as he set down on the other side, like he almost scared of Sam.

"However, Gadreel, there is one more thing I need from you." Metatron spoke up, "A test of your loyalty."

"You have it." Gadreel insisted.

"I know you said, that, but I need to be sure," Metatron replied, "Like I told Lot when I asked him to this for me, we have enemies who need to be neutralized."

"Slain?" Gadreel asked.

"Why does it take everyone so long to figure that out?" Metatron wondered aloud, "But, yes."

Gadreel suddenly looked unsure.

"Are you making everyone do this?" Sam spoke up, the facade slipping for a moment.

"No," Metatron replied, "That would be impractical. But I need to be extra sure about my higher-ups, so-" He handed a yellow card to Gadreel, "Contact me when it's done." Then he got up and walked away.

Gadreel just stared at the card like he wondering what to do.

"Hey, you want to go somewhere and talk?" Sam asked. At the very least he should try to get the name of that card. At the most maybe, just maybe he could turn this new angel into an alley.

"Yes." Gadreel answered.

They walked in silence until the bar was far out of their view. At last Sam asked, "So, whose name is on the card?"

"Someone named Alexander Sarver," Gadreel said, looking down at the car, then back to Sam, "Metatron he-he really made you do this, as well?"

"Yeah," Sam replied, "Yeah he did. But-you don't have to. You can just walk away. We'll find someone else."

"I don't think walking away is an option for me." Gadreel responded, looking straight away.

"We won't come after you." Sam assured him, "I'll make sure of it." He wasn't sure it was promise he could keep, but if he could stall for enough to find this Sarver guy, keep him breathing, and figure out what he had to do with anything, he was willing to say almost anything.

"It's not that,' Gadreel replied, "This could be last chance at redemption."

That caught Sam's attention. "Redemption from what?"

"You know what." Gadreel replied.

"For a minute, let's pretend I don't." Sam tried.

"Why?" Gadreel asked, starting to sound a little cross, "Why go over it again?"

Sam paused for a moment to think on his next move. Saying the wrong thing could send this whole thing coming down around him. "Look," He said finally, "I want to help you, really I do, but I can't do that without a little more detail."

"How much more detail do you need?" Gadreel replied, "The serpent got in, the world was cursed, it wasn't my doing, but I was the one guarding the garden."

That stunned Sam into silence again. "Are you telling me that you're the angel the snake tempted Eve got passed?"

That was when Gadreel realized what was going on. "You really didn't know that, did you?"

Sam knew that he was seconds from being found out. So he did the only thing he could think of. "What if I told you there was a way to get what you want, without killing some random guy."

Gadreel stared him in the eye. "I'm listening."


	23. Unforeseen Complications

"You cannot be serious, Sam!" Dean exclaimed, back at the bunker, "What did we said about consulting us first?!"

"Again, there wasn't time." Sam explained, "The guy knew I wasn't legit, I had to stop him from killing this Staver guy and I thought we could work with him."

"Then why is he wearing a blindfold?" Linda asked, pointing to Gadreel who was off to the side, in fact, wearing a piece of black cloth over his eyes.

"In case I was wrong I wanted to limit the number of ways this could come back and bite us." Sam replied.

"Well, at least you were smart enough to do that." Dean commented.

"Look, he hasn't even done anything yet." Sam cut in, "And after a brief freak out he seemed willing to help, so, can we just give him a chance?"

"Alright," Dean conceded, "So, what's the deal with this Sraver guy, anyway?"

"No clue." Sam said, "He didn't know anything, and I can't find anything. So I figure we just go to the guy house tell him that angels want him dead?"

"That's gonna be a fun talk." Dean snarked.

Nevertheless, it had to be done. And fortunately this card had a location on it, which lead to the boys loading into the car and heading to Pennsylvania.

They parked by the side of the curb in front of rather normal looking house, enforcing the theory that Metatron might just be screwing with them. Sam and Dean stepped out of the car where a man was bent over a flower garden, picking weeds, his back to the brothers. "Alexander Sarver?" Sam asked, wondering how do they even explain what was going on to this poor guy.

The man turned around and suddenly Sam had some sort of clue as to what was going on. "Yeah?" The man asked.

"Dean, he's an angel." Sam whispered.

"Excuse me?" Alexander asked around the same time Dean replied, "What?"

"It's okay, I'm one, too." Sam said, addressing Alexander.

Alexander's or whoever he really was, face darkened as he said, "So you are."

Realizing he thought they were a threat, Sam said, "Look, we're not here to hurt you. In fact, we're here to warn you about something."

"Alright, then, what is it?" The other angel asked.

Just then a little girl ran out of the house, calling, "Daddy! Daddy!"

The angel had a look of fear in eye and he picked the child up. "Hey, Delilah, Daddy needs to talk to these men alone for a few minutes, alright?"

"You have a kid?" Sam balked.

"Man, you got a lot done fast." Dean commented.

"Do you need a bit to-" Sam began, not really wanting to have this conversation in front of Delilah."

"Yes." The angel said, "Look, my wife and the niblet are going to movie in a little bit. Swing by then and we can talk about whatever this is. Okay?"

"Sure." Sam agreed. This could wait a little bit longer.

Later they came back and the angel ushered them into the living room. "So, what, you just took over your meatsuit's life?" Dean asked.

"My 'meatsuit' as you put it was an abusive ass." The angel informed them, "Trust me, no one's too broken up about the situation."

"Including the woman you're presumably sharing a bed with?" Dean pointed out, referring to Delilah's mother.

"Janey knows." The angel replied, "Not the details, but, she knew something was different after a couple of days. She doesn't care. Now are you two going to tell me what's going on, or just stand there passing judgment on something you know nothing about?"

"Listen ah-" Sam began, wanting to defuse the situation, but his voice trailed off as he realized they didn't know his real name.

"Abner." The angel told him.

"Abner," Sam repeated, "I apologize for my brother, but this one of the weirder situations we've come across recently, but that's not really important right now. What's the name Metatron mean to you?"

"The scribe of God?" Abner asked, raising an eyebrow, "What about him?"

"Right, you've probably been out of the loop." Sam said, "Well, he was the one who caused all the angels to fall."

Abner's eyes widened. "And you and you and you're...'brother' are looking for him?" He guessed.

"Well, we sorta found him." Dean cut in, "Then Sam got himself undercover in his faction, and through that he found out that for some reason, Metatron ordered on his other innicates to kill you."

Now Abner's eyes were saucers. "Why would he want _me_ dead.?I didn't even know anyone knew I was alive."

"Well, he does." Dean said, "We were actually hopping you could tell us why he wants you dead."

Suddenly an idea occurred to Sam. "Does the name Gadreel mean anything to you?"

Abner's eyes lit up in recognition. "We were imprisoned in Heaven's lockup together." He explained, "He's my best friend. He's alive?"

Instead of answering him, Sam said, "I think I know what's going on here."

"Well, don't leave us in suspense." Dean said.

"It's actually _is_ a test of his loyalty." Sam explained, "This would cemement Gadreel's commitment, and make sure he literally has nowhere else to go. I mean, you two couldn't have been very popular upstairs, right?"

"No, we weren't." Abner admitted.

"Okay, so, now that we know why he wants you dead, we just have to make it _look_ like you're dead." Dean said.

"How are you going to do that?" Abner asked.

"That-" Dean's voice trailed off, "Is actually a good question." He turned to his brother, "Sam?"

"Maybe we could put him in the motel with Kevin?" Sam suggested.

Just then Dean's phone rang. He looked down and saw it Kevin. "Speak of the Devil," Dean said, picking up his phone. "Hey, Kevin, something wrong?"

"Kind of." Kevin said, "We're all find, no one's hurt, well, someone is, but not anyone who didn't have it coming. But, um, we're going need a new warded room."


	24. Prophet Protection Program

**AN: A little extension on the disclaimer. I still don't own** _ **Supernatural,**_ **and I also don't own** _ **American Beauty**_ **or** _ **Snow White.**_

While all this was going on, Kevin, Castiel, and Hael were cooped up in the motel room trying to stay safe.

So far the only thing they had to fight was the boredom.

"Hey, Hael." Kevin said, sitting on the edge of the bed, "I spy with my little eye, something with flowers on it."

"Why are you talking like that?" Hael asked, not sure what was going on.

"It's a game." Kevin said, "You keep asking questions until you figure out what I'm seeing. Come on. Cas, you can play, too."

"Is it in this room?" Cas tried, "We have the blinds drawn. Whatever you're seeing has to be in this room."

"It is in the room," Kevin said, then decided to help them out since it was their first time added, "Though not _this_ part of the room."

Hael scanned the room with her eyes, then she saw it. "Is it in the bathroom?"

Kevin grinned. "Yes. Yes, it is in the bathroom."

Hael squinted her eyes, examining the bathroom. There was only one thing in it with flowers. "Is it that cloth around the tub?"

"You got it!" Kevin said, beaming, "Okay, you try."

And so, they three spent the next hour and a half playing eye-spy. In truth, Kevin got bored with it twenty minutes in, but his friends seemed rather enamored with the game so he kept up appearances. However, they eventually ran out of things to spy. Eventually the TV came on. Which lead to questions from Kevin's bodyguards who weren't all that knowledgeable about human society.

"Why is she always covered in roses?" Hael asked, staring at the screen.

"Because Kevin Spacey's character is having a fantasy about her." Kevin explained, rather uncomfortable. This was _not_ a movie to be watched in mixed company.

Hael turned to Castiel. "Do you have fantasies like that?"

Castiel choked a little. "No," He got out, "Men should not be having fansties about girl's that young, and if anyone has fantasies like that about you, you need to get me or the Winchesters and we will kill them for you!"

"You know what?" Kevin said, going for the remote, "Let's find something else."

"While you do that I need to go...use the facilities." Cas said, slipping off the bed. He shut the door behind him, leaving Hael and Kevin alone.

Hael turned to Kevin. "How are you doing?" She asked.

"Apart from the group of angles that want me dead?" Kevin replied, "I'm good."

Hael srinked a little. "I'm sorry."

"Actually I think I'm starting to get use to it." Kevin told her, then realizing what he just said, added, "Which is probably not a good thing."

"But you shouldn't have to get use to it." Hael continued, "You don't deserve any of this."

"That's what I have been saying for over two years." Kevin said, "Tell you what, one good thing did came out of it, though."

Hael squinted her eyes in confusion. "What is that?"

Putting his hand over hers, he looked into her eyes and said, "I made an awesome friend."

Just then they heard the sound of the toilet flushing and water running and quickly backed away from each other as Cas walked out. Going back to flipping with the remote, he said, "There we go, _Snow White._ Kind of a chick flick, but more appropriate, all things considered."

Later that might, after the two humans had fallen asleep, one of the two were in throes of yet another nightmare. Tonight it was mix of fallen angels, accusations, blood, fire. Suddenly he jolted awake, his eyes fluttering open. In the dark of the room, he saw a shadow figure leaning over another on the bed, getting dangerously close to his face.

Cas jumped from his chair, angel and blade in hand, until the figure raised her hands in a protective stance and shouted, "It's me! Castiel, it's me!"

Cas lowered his weapon. "Hael?"

As Cas turned on the lamp, the female angel nodded.

"W-What are you doing?" Castiel asked.

"Nothing." Hael said quickly, "Just, watching over Kevin."

"I don't think you need to do it that closely." Cas replied, giving her a questioning look.

"Right. Sorry." Hael said, stepping away.

Suddenly Cas got an idea what was going on, so he took a deep breath and just came out with what everyone was wondering. "Hael, what's your relationship Kevin?"

Hael got that confused look again. "What do you mean?"

"I mean do you have...feelings for him?" Cas got out, "Romantic ones, I mean?"

Hael's eyes widened. "What?" She balked, "No! Why would you-"

"Hael, if you do, it's okay." Cas told her.

"No, it's not!" Hael protested, "It's forbidden!"

"This is not what's this is about." Cas said, trying to placate her, "Feelings, particularly ones like these, can be confusing."

"They would be if I have them!" Hael exclaimed, her voice rising "But I don't, so stop-"

Suddenly Kevin made a little gasp as he awoke. "Cas?" He asked, starting to sit up, "Hael? What's going on?"

"Nothing," Hael lied, "Just go back to sleep." Then she gave Cas a look that sent chills down his spines, as if she hated him for merely bringing up the subject.

The rest of the night was spent in somewhat awkward silence.

"Man, this is getting sad," Kevin, "Also, these are really engrossing for some reason."

The trio had found a stack of postcards left in one of the drawers by a previous guess. Now they were laid out on the floor with the postcards spread out around them.

"Whoever this person was, they've been to some very exotic places." Cas noted, his hand tracing a card with the pyramids on it.

"Yeah, which makes you wonder why they were staying in a place like this." Kevin replied, "I mean, it works for what we're using it for-"

"This sort of looks like something I made the last time I was down here." Hael said, pointing one of the postcards.

"You never told me you've been to earth before now." Kevin said.

"Many years ago when it features were still being formed." Hael explained, "I built this grand canyon. I don't me to sound to prideful, but-it really was beautiful."

Kevin picked up the post card and held it out to her. "This?" He asked, "The Grand Canyon? You made this?"

"Yes." Hael said.

Kevin looked shocked for a moment, then broke out into a grin. "Gotta say, I'm, ah, I'm a big fan of your work."

Hael ducked her head down. "Thank you." She said sheepishly.

"Just to let you know, I'm not the only one." Kevin continued, "Thousands of people go to see it every year."

Hael glanced up. "That sounds dangerous. It was quite deep."

"Well, they've put up railings in certain parts of it, so people can look." Kevin said, "Tell you what, after all this is over, when we have the angels situated, and no one's trying to kill us, we go off and see it, just you and me."

Hael's eyes lit up. "I think I would like that, yes."

"Alright then." Kevin said, "First chance we'll get, we'll rent a Convertible and go."

"What's a Convertible?" Hael asked.

"A type of car." Kevin explained, "But the type of car's not really important."

Later that day, Kevin and Hael were laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Castiel was in the bathroom again.

"I think Cas might have a bladder problem." Kevin said suddenly, "That's like that ninth time he's been to the bathroom today."

"I don't think that's it." Hael said, "I think he's avoiding me."

"Why?" Kevin said, sitting up.

Hael froze for minute. Finally she said, "He thinks I'm in love with you." She laughed uncomfortably. "Really, can you imagine? "

Kevin's heart sank into his stomach. "Yeah, it's ridiculous." He said, his voice sounding hallow.

"And even if I was." Hael continued, "It's not like you have any feelings like that for me, right?"

Kevin got silent.

Hael sat up. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

Suddenly Kevin's mouth got dry. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him.

"Kevin," Hael began nervously, "What if I told you that I lied before, that Castiel was right? That I do have feelings for you?"

Before Kevin could answer there was a _clash_ from outside, accompanied by a woman's scream.

Hael leapt to her feet as Cas burst from the bathroom.

"Stay here." Cas instructed Kevin as the pair headed out, "If we're not back in a few minutes, call the Winchesters."

When the ran outside, they saw a hulking thug dragging a woman by her blonde hair as a smaller man followed behind him behind them.

"Let go of me!" The woman protested, terrified, trying to fight off her captors. The smaller man grabbed her throat.

"Still a coward, I see." He hissed.

"Hey!" Cas shouted, as he and Hael descended on the scene. He punched the smaller one, only for his head to move back into place seconds later.

"They're angels." Hael said, "Maybe you should stay back with-"

But as she said that the thug pulled out his blade and lashed it out at her, Hael barely fighting deflecting him with her own.

The smaller one, grabbed, Castiel's arm, nearly dislocating it. Cas screamed out in pain as the angel pulled him in, putting a blade to his neck. "I'd walkway, unless you want your human friend here to get nasty little cut."

"Let them go, Malachi." The other female angel said, "They have nothing to do with it."

Suddenly a look of recognition lit up in the angel's-Malachi, apparently-face. "I actually think this one does." He said, smiling without warmth, "Theo, kill the girl. We're taking them, both."

As Theo raised his blade again, Cas kicked Malachi in the groin, which even for an angel is somewhat sensitive, causing him to let him go and giving him a chance to grab the angel's weapon. He stabbed in Theo's shoulder, causing him to let go of both his blade and the female angel.

"Go!" Both Hael and Cas shouted almost in unison.

"I'm not leaving you." The angel protested.

"Then that will be you're undoing." Malachi shouted, charging at her. Cas got in-between them, managing to tackle Malachi.

At point they were mess of arms and legs and clanking angel blades. Stabbing and hitting, neither side making much headway. No one notice Kevin step out in the commotion.

Finally Malachi had Cas on the ground, stepping on his hand with his foot. He grabbed the female angel and Theo pushed a battered Hael to the ground. "You fought well, little girl." He said, and he raised a blade, ready to give the death blow when suddenly, Kevin slide across the lot, taking them all by surprise, and grabbing a blade that had been discarded. Before anyone could react, he stabbed Theo in the stomach. Grabbing another blade Hael stabbed him in the throat, and the angel fell to the ground dead.

They then turned their attention to Malachi, who realizing he had beat, threw his captive at them, then ran as fast as he could.

"And you call me a coward?!" The female angel screamed at him before turning back to the group, "Thank you."

"Are you hurt?" Hael asked.

"Not badly." The angel replied, "You?"

"A little scrapped and bruised." Hael said, "Nothing more. Kevin?"

"I'm good." He said, "Cas?"

"I could use some healing." Cas said, walking over to the female angel and draping his jacket over her. "Why don't we get you inside, and you can explain to us what was that was about."

The angel allowed herself to be lead to the room, Cas scrapping off a bit of the angel warding to get her in. Then Hael and Kevin followed behind, checking before they shut the door


	25. Things Come Out, Things Stay Hidden

**AN: Merry Christmas, everyone!**

When Sam and Dean arrived at the motel, the group told them their story.

"So what exactly did you to make those two come after you?" Dean asked, once they were finished.

"I committed the horrible of crime of trying to stay neutral." The angel they had saved, Muriel, answered.

"Neural?" Sam asked.

"It's as you feared," Castiel spoke up, "Not only is there another faction, being lead by the anarchist, Malachi, but he and Bartholomew are in a blood a blood feud."

" And apparently this guy was psycho _before_ the fall." Kevin added.

"It's madness." Muriel continued, wrapping the jacket she was still wearing closer around her, "Each side is rounding up those like me. Angels are being tortured and killed if they don't pledge loyalty."

Cas sighed. "It's worst than we thought. Much worst."

"Gee, ya think?!" Dean sarnked, rubbing his face wearily.

"Each side wants to crush each other, overthrow Metatron, and rule Heaven," Muriel said "And...Heaven under either of them would be..."

"Hell." Hael finished.

Everyone exchanged tense looks.

At last Kevin asked what everyone was thinking. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Well, the first thing we need to do is to set you up somewhere else." Dean said, "We don't want Malachi to come back look for revenge." Then she turned to Muriel, "You, would you mind staying a little longer so we can ask you a few more questions?"

"It's not like I have anywhere else to go." Muriel replied.

After some searching and debate, they found a motel a town over the looked like it would do the trick. After they covered it with about fifteen different kinds of warding they ushered the group inside.

"Okay," Dean said, "Same rules at last time. Don't leave the room, keep your heads down and try not to die. Cas, can we see you outside for a moment?"

The three walked outside, leaving Kevin and Hael alone. "Are you mad at me?" Kevin asked. Hael hadn't spoke to him since they saved Muriel.

"Yes," Hael said, turning away from him.

"Okay," Kevin said slowly, "Why?"

"Because you followed us out there after I told you to stay in the room." Hael snapped, folding her arms.

"And I should have just let them kill you?" Kevin responded.

"It's better than you being dead!" Hael exclaimed.

"Why?" Kevin demanded, "Because you're suppose to protect me?!"

"Because I don't know what I'd do if I lost you!" Hael screamed.

Kevin was silent for a minute, just staring at her. At last he asked, "What?"

Now it was Hael's turn to be silent, bowing her head. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Yeah, well, you did, so could be elaborate?" Kevin asked.

Hael took a deep breath, then exhaled. "I don't really understand my feelings for you," She said finally, "But I know that if you were gone, I'd want to go, too."

"Alright, before this goes any further, there's something I have to tell you." Kevin said.

Hael swallowed. She had a feeling she wouldn't like where this was going. "What?"

"That level of devotion is extremely unhealthy." Kevin told her, "If anything did happen to me I would want you to go on and live a full, happy life, you understand?"

Hael nodded.

"I need to hear it." Kevin said. He needed to know she wouldn't hurt herself.

"I understand." Hael replied.

"Now, you remember what you asked last night?" Kevin asked, "What would I say if you told me you had feelings for me, which is what you appear to be telling me, please correct me if I'm wrong."

Hael didn't reply.

"Well, I would say, I think I feel the same way about you." Kevin said.

Hael's face suddenly lit up. "Really?"

"Really." Kevin confirmed. The he leaned in closer to the female angel, until his lips were gently touching hers. After a moment he moved back "Was it alright?" He asked, realizing what he had just done, "T-That I did that?"

"Yes." Hael replied, "What...what was it?"

Kevin paused again, think of how to explain it to her. "It's a...it was a kiss, Hael. You give it to people you like a lot and maybe even love."

 _Love._ The word rang through Hael's head, terrifying her and thrilling her at the same time. "I don't think we should tell anyone yet." She said, "About us."

Kevin smiled. "Okay."

Just then the door opened and Cas stepped in. They pair quickly distanced themselves. "Hey," Kevin said, "So what did the guys want to talk to you about?"

"They just thought maybe I should sit out on this one." Cas explained, putting air quotes around the last part of the sentence, "I told them no."

Hael and Kevin exchanged looks. Then they turned to Cas. "Did you tell them about what happened in the motel?" Hael asked.

"They already know what happened." Cas replied, "We spent a whole hour explaining it to them."

"But we sort of skimmed over the part when Malachi recognized you." Hael reminded him.

"We don't for sure that he did." Cas said, "He never actually said my name."

"But he wanted to take you, too." Hael reminded him, "It's a pretty good assumption."

"Still nothing we need to worry them with." Cas said, walking off, signaling that at least in his mind the matter was closed.

After dropping those three off, Sam and Dean took Muriel back to the bunker to continuing questioning her. However it appeared that she had gave them all the information she knew.

"I'm sorry," She said, after about an hour or so, "I really wish I could give you more.

"It's alright," Sam said, "You gave us a lot."

"Why do you want to know all this?" Muriel asked.

"Because we're going to try to do something about it." Sam replied, "Put these guys out of business before they do any more damage."

"Now's _that's_ something I could get behind." Muriel said.

Just them Sam felt someone calling him. "I think I'm being summoned."

"What?" Dean responded, "Now?"

"It's not like we're really doing anything." Sam pointed out, "Could you take care of her?"

"Sure." Dean agreed.

"What's going on?" Muriel asked.

"You know how we say we were going to put all the factions out of business?" Dean asked, "Well, part of that involved putting him undercover in Metatron's organization."

"Then why haven't you killed him, yet?" Muriel asked.

"That's a-" Dean began, "That's actually a good question." He looked over to Sam for an explanation.

"I'm sorry, I've been a little bust trying to prevent two different assianations." Sam replied.

"Good point," Dean admitted, "But tell you what, in case he's figured that out and this is an ambush, take a blade with you, okay?"

Sam grabbed one from the table and he took off.

This time the meeting place was in an abandoned factory. When Sam entered Metatron was already there.

"Figured there wasn't a chance of us getting spied on here." The evil angel explained, "Speaking of which, have you heard anything from Gadreel?"

"No." Sam lied, "I'm sure he'll come through. It's just a long way to Missouri."

Metatron seemed to pounder this a moment. "I don't need him yet, anyway." He said, then turned his attention back to Sam, "But there is something I want to show you."


	26. The Door

**AN: Happy New Year everyone!**

Sam carefully pulled out his blade, hiding it behind his back as he followed Metatron. "So, ah, what is this thing you wanted to show me?"

"You'll see." Metatron said, "You know how my spell is irreversible?"

"Yes." Sam replied, not sure where this was going.

"Well, that doesn't really work with for my big plan." Metatron continued, "So I had to come up with something. A back door if you will."

Sam carefully but the blade back, seeing where this was going. Metatron wasn't half as clever as he thought he was.

They turned the corner into what looked like it use to be someone's office. Suddenly the ground beneath them began to shift, and a hole swirled opening emitting a bright light from it.

"You made a portal back to Heaven." Sam gapped.

"Nothing gets back you, does it?" Metatron teased, "So, you want to check it out?"

"Of course." Sam said, partly playing along, partly wanting to get as much information about this as possible.

"Then follow me." Metatron said, stepping a little closer to the hole. Sam followed his example and the light engulfed them both.

The next second they were in an open green field. He looked around and spotted a little girl in floppy white hat picking flowers.

"Crap." Metatron exchanged, "I'm still making a few configurations. It was suppose to drop us in the part only angels have access to."

Just then little girl noticed she wasn't alone, turning around.

"Quick." Metatron said, making himself invisible. Sam quickly did the same thing before the little girl could see him.

"Hello?" She asked, "Who's there?" After a minute she called out, "Mommy?"

"Over here, sweetie!" A woman with same brown hair and tan skin as the girl said, coming into the view.

"Mommy!" The girl happily shouted, running over to her. She picked the little girl up and in response the little girl held out her flowers to her.

"Oh, these are beautiful." The woman said, taking a few and tucking them in her hair.

A bit formed in Sam's stomach as a horrible realization dawned on him. "Who's Heaven is this?" He asked, "The woman's or the girl's?"

"Both I'm sorry to say." Metatron explained, "Car accident. Normally exceptions are only made for soul mates, but-" He gestured to the two playing together, "Nobody said soul mates had to be in the _romantic_ sense of the word."

"Oh," Sam replied. He didn't know angels were capable of non-linear thinking like that.

"However, that doesn't really matter at the moment." Metatron said, "Since as I said, I never meant for us to be here. So, I trust that you can keep a lid on this until I get this problem fixed."

"Of course." Sam replied.

He immediately told Dean and the others about it when he got back to the bunker.

"So we can get back home?" Gadreel, who was still there, and still blindfolded, asked. Actually, all the angels they had gathered were still in the bunker.

"Yeah." Sam said.

"Okay, finally, something's actually going right for us." Dean spoke up, "How does this work?"

"I'm not sure." Sam said, "But if I could get closer to him while he's working on the kinks, I think I would learn to work it myself. So I offered to help him with it."

"And what do you need us to do?" Muriel spoke up.

"Well, nothing really." Sam began, "Just I'm sorry-why are you asking me that?"

The three angels exchanged looks. "We've been talking." Muriel said, "The three of us. And we have decided that, of everyone out there-you're the only one who's intentions are good, and pure. The only one with an actual plan."

"What are saying?" Sam asked, thought he was afraid he knew where this was going.

"We're saying that we'll follow you, Sam Winchester." Muriel said determinedly.

The room went completely silent.

"Wow." Dean said at last, "Did not see that coming."


	27. Sam Winchester: Leader Of Angels

"What do you mean, you'll follow me?" Sam asked.

The angels exchanged looks, like they couldn't understand the confusion. "We want to lead us." Muriel said in a tone the same as the looks.

Sam was silent for a moment his mouth agape. "Ser-Seriously?" He asked finally, "You all hate me, remember? Me and him are the cause of most of your recent problems. I mean, you use to like him, but you've always hated me. Why would you want to follow someone you've hated since the beginning of time?"

"Things are very complicated now." Muriel answered.

"And you were the one who stopped me from killing my best friend." Gadreel pointed out.

"Which I'm also grateful for." Abner added.

"And it was your friends who saved me from Malachi." Muriel finished, "And you're the only one with plan of how to get us back."

"Those aren't qualifications to lead anyone!" Sam argued, "In fact I might be the least qualified person. I'm only been an angel for a few months."

"That doesn't matter to us." Muriel said, "We trust you, and will help your cause in any way we can."

Sam just stood there for a minute, breathing heavily, processing it all. "Excuse me, I need some air." He said finally, before running for it.

Everyone just stood there a minute in somewhat awkward silence.

"Okay, guys, just wait here, I'll go talk to him." Dean said, before running after Sam.

When he found his brother, Sam was plopped on the ground by the side of the bunker, hyperventilating. Immediately Dean ran to his aid, dropping at his side. "It's okay, Sammy," He said, "Just breathe, slowly, deeps breathes, there you go."

Sam calmed down, and started breathing normally.

"Okay," Dean said, "You better now?"

"A little." Sam replied, "Dean, what am I gonna do?"

"You mean about your newfound angel army?" Dean asked.

"I don't three angels make an army." Sam said, "But yeah."

"Well, they want to follow you," Dean began, "So let 'em."

Sam turned to his brother in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Look, it's not the best idea either of us has ever had." Dean admitted, "But it's not the worst either."

"Not the worst-" Sam began, "Dean, I cannot lead these guys. I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"Keeping them in line would be a start." Dean responded, "Look, if they're doing what you tell them, they're not out there, causing chaos."

Sam was silent a minute, thinking that over. He had to admit, Dean made a good point.

"And besides, it's not like we couldn't use the extra help." Dean continued.

"Alright," Sam conceded, "I'll do it."

Dean gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Perfect." He said, "Now, do you think you can go back in there?"

"I guess." Sam said, but he really wasn't that sure at all.

"Then let's go before those guys start getting antsy." Dean said, helping Sam to his feet.

They walked back into the main room where the three angels were huddled, talking amongst themselves. Considering where that had lead last time, Sam spoke up. "Hey, guys!"

Suddenly, he had the room's undivided attention.

"Look, um, I'm honored, that you want me to lead you." Sam began, "And there is actually one thing I just thought of that you can do to help." He meant that literally. The idea had came with him a few moments before.

"You do?" Muriel asked, almost hopefully.

"You do?" Dean repeated, surprised.

"Yeah," Sam repeated, "Look, we have one of the bulk of supernatural information, and there's-"Sam counted both the angels and humans currently at the bunker, "Six of us. If we raid the stacks, one of us is bound to find something."  
Linda, who been standing to the side, watching the whole thing, spoke up. "That's actually not a bad idea."

"Okay, just one more thing." Sam said, "Can somebody take the blindfold off Gadreel?"

And so they all set to work thoroughly going through every book on the shelf, looking for anything referencing portals to Heaven. Since half the workforce didn't need food or sleep, they could look as long as they needed. Which is exactly what happened. Days turned into weeks, and before anyone knew what happened, a week had turned into a month.

And during that time, Sam went back and forth between the bunker and Metatron's various hide-outs, working on the door. As his time with the ex-scribe became more frequent, he noticed that his ranks seemed to be growing. Sam thought he had about fifty now. It might be small in comparison to other factions in comparison and to the host as a whole, but still it worried Sam, especially when his own band of fighters consisted of five angels, two and a half hunters, a prophet and a soccer mom.

Then came the day it all changed.

"I think we have it this time." Metatron said, finishing the latest calibrations, " I know it."

"Only one way to find out." Sam replied.

The door was activated and next thing Sam know they were standing in an empty white room. "Is this..." His voice trailed off.

"Yes, Lot, it is." Metatron said, a satisfied smile on his face, "The center of Heaven."

"We did it." Sam said, real emotions coming though," We actually did it." After a moment of silence, he added, "So what happens now?"

"Now, we get more angels." Metatron replied, "I don't have nearly enough yet for my plan to work."

"Your plan?" Sam asked innocently, but really it wasn't innocent at all.

"To remake Heaven of course." Metatron replied vaguely. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth either.

Sam had feeling he wasn't going to like the details.

"Why didn't you kill him right then?" Dean asked, standing in front of an abandoned store front with Sam, once he was able to get away.

"How was I going to get out of there, Dean?" Sam replied, "I mean, sure I could've got back to Earth, but then there would've been fifty angels who kill me when they found out what I done."

"His hold is that strong an all of them?" Dean responded.

"Some more than others." Sam answered, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but if we want to steal that door, we're going to have to negotiate some defections."

"Oh." Dean quipped, "Is that all?"


	28. Discovering Truth

Sam and Gadreel set across the table from each other, a list of Metatron's angel in between them.

"What about this guy?" Sam suggested, "Metatron seemed to like him. He could probably get us in again."

Gadreel shook his head in response. "He's too set in his ways. Even if he could be swayed away from Metatron, when he found out who you really are, about the transformation-he wouldn't take it well." Then he glanced back down to the list, "What about Ezra? You could probably sway him with a couple of compliments."

"Kind of low on the totem pole, though." Sam commented.

Dean groaned. "Guys, at this rate you're gonna have everyone on that list crossed off with nothing to show for it."

"Well what do you propose we do?" Gadreel challenged.

"How 'bout a compromise?" Dean asked, "There's got to be someone knowledgeable about the door and high-ranking, but with low enough self-esteem and/or some doubts that you can use to pull them over here."

"Dean's right." Sam declared.

"He is?" Gadreel asked.

"Yeah." Sam replied, "If we think hard enough there has to be someone with all those qualities. If we put our heads together, we can find them."

Gadreel looked unsure, but said, "I'm not sure how that would help, but alright." Then he stood up, leaning over towards Sam.

Realizing what was happening, Sam said, "It's an expression, Gadreel. We don't actually need to put our heads together."

"Oh." Gadreel said, sitting back down, "Sorry."

"It's alright." Sam said, but he was thinking, _Am I the only angel not completely literal?_

Finding the perfect angel to lure from the fold was easier said than done. If they weren't close enough to get them to the door, they had totally drank the kool-aid, or just more than likely not take the truth of who Sam was very well, either due to his history or the mere fact that an human-to-angel transformation had never been heard of before, let alone been done. And there were some neither them knew about.

This lead to them involving the others, including temporarily reliving Hael and Castiel of duty, and having Miriam come up from Tennessee.

"So, just look over the list for anyone you know," Sam said, "Tell us what you know about them and if you think they would make a good fit."

They group peered over the list for a moment, then Miriam reached out and put her finger on one of the names, saying, "This one."

Sam and Gadreel leaned over to see where she was pointing. To their surprise, it was one of the names they had already crossed up. "Really?" Sam asked.

Miriam nodded. "I knew her very well, back home. If there's anyone who will listen to reason, it's her. I'm surprised she hasn't seen though Metatron's crap already."

Several people in the room exchanged looks. "I have some concerns about the influences your witch friends have had on you." Hael said.

"Miriam, your friend might have changed since the last time you them," Sam warned for her," She seems to be one of the more die-hards."

"On the other hand," Gadreel spoke up, "Didn't you say Metatron was thinking about having her guard the door?"

"Just let me talk to her." Miriam requested, "I promise you I can make her see reason."

"And if you can't?" Hael spoke up. If this went wrong the whole operation could fall apart.

"I will." Miriam said firmly, "How hard can it be to get the angel of discovering truth to do that?"

So it was decided.

It turned out getting Asaeriel alone wasn't that hard. Ever since they met she had an intense interest in Sam. Now that he knew she was the angel of discovering truth, he wondered if she somehow knew he was being less than honest about who he was. Whatever the case, she was willing to follow him away from the base of operations to a neutral location in the city.

"So what's this thing you wanted to show me?" Asaeriel asked, walking into a secluded dinner.

"Just a little while longer." Sam said, leading her to the booth closet to the back exit.

As they approached a young woman with her pinkish blonde hair smoothed back into a neat ponytail stood up.

Even in the new vessel, the angel of discovering truth recognized who is was immediately. "Miriam." She gasped.

"Hello, Asaeriel." Miriam replied, smiling.

"I thought..."Asaeriel voice trailed off for a moment, "I thought that you died in the Fall."

"I almost did." Miriam admitted, "But some...good people found me and saved my life." She was quiet from a moment, then said, "Would mind sitting down for a moment? There are some things I have to talk with you about."

"Of course."Asaeriel said, sitting down, her face actually lit up. At that moment she would do practically anything her friend asked her.

When Sam went to slide in Miriam held up her hand, stopping him. "Actually, Sam, I think it would be better if I did this alone."

"Okay." Sam said, sounding as rather unsure as he felt, but getting back up anyway in walking out.

As he left Asaeriel asked, "Why did you call him that?"

"That's one of the things we need to talk about." Miriam replied.

When Sam walked into the parking lot, Lola and Dean stepped out of the Impala. "Where's Mim?" Lola asked, when the angel wasn't with her.

"Still in the dinner." Sam replied, "She wanted to talk to Asaeriel alone."

Both hunter and witch's eyes widened, saying "What?!" Then Lola took over marching up to Sam, "What the Hell were you thinking?!"

"She'll be fine." Sam assured her, "They're friends, remember?"

"They were before she pled her loyalty to these to this-Metatron guy." Lola pointed out, "You told it yourself these guys have been killing each other over who's working for who. And on top of that she's been hanging out with witches for months. How do you think she's gonna react to that?"

"Look, we can see what's going on." Sam reasoned, pointing back to the dinner, "At the first sign of trouble we can go in and back her up."

Meanwhile inside, Miriam had just finished explaining to Asaeriel who Sam really was.

"I knew there was something not quite right about him." Asaeriel said, rubbing her forehead, "But this...how is that even possible?"

"I couldn't believe it myself when I first heard." Miriam replied, "But, there he is. I mean, you have to have noticed his wings."

"I've never really been able to get a good look at his wings." Asaeriel explained, "He always keeps them so close to his back, and holds himself at an angle that makes them hard to see."

 _"So that's how he does it."_ Miriam thought. Out loud she said, "Well, after all this is over, you should get him to show them to you. They're quite beautiful."

"What is- this?" Asaeriel asked, "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because we want you to help get to the door." Miriam answered, "We want to get everyone back to Heaven, and Metatron's too dangerous to let him have it."

"And the ex-boy king _isn't_?" Asaeriel countered.

"That was years ago." Miriam augured, "And his blood's been purified, and more importantly, he wasn't the one that caused the fall. I mean, what since does that even make, trusting the angel that got us into this mess in the first place?"

"I admit, I almost didn't sign on because of that." Asaeriel responded, "And I don't-I don't actually trust him."

"Then why follow someone you don't trust?" Miriam reasoned.

Asaeriel was quiet a moment. Her friend have point. At last she asked, "Do you trust Sam?"

"Yes." Miriam said, "Actually I do. Because he told me upfront who he was, what happened and what his intentions were-granted at the time we met his only intentions were getting his body back, but that's beside the point. Can you say the same?"

A few seconds later the pair came out of the dinner, walking up to the angel, hunter and witch. "Are you okay?" Lola asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Miriam said, then addressing Sam, continued "Asaeriel says she's willing to work with us on one condition."

"What?" Sam asked, worried about what this was going to cost him.

The angels exchanged looks, then Asaeriel said, "I want to see your wings."

That took everyone by surprise. "Come again?" Dean requested.

"I want to see his wings." Asaeriel repeated, "I know they're not broken, and now I know he's been hiding it, so I want to see what these things really look like."

"Alright." Sam agreed. It seemed like a small price to pay.

Sam stepped a few feet away to give himself some room, and outstretched his wings. He was affair they might hit something, as they were rather wide when spread out like this, but to his surprise he didn't feel them crash into anything.

When Asaeriel saw them, she covered her mouth in surprise. What Miriam said rang true. They were absolutely gorgeous. And it seemed like so long since she had seen a pair of fully functioning wings. She felt stinging and wetness at her eyes.

Lola, who couldn't see the wings, was left in confusion by Sam's migration and Asaeriel's sudden show of emotion. "Uh, what's happening?"

"Sam's got the only pair of wings that aren't broken." Dean explained, "He usually doesn't rub it in the other's faces, but when they come out-this happens."

"I don't see any-"Lola began.

"They're apparently invisible to most other species." Dean cut her off, "Something about the plane they're on, or something."

After a few more moments, Asaeriel seemed to get her bearings back.

"Can I-Can I fold them back now?" Sam requested.

"Yes," Asaeriel replied, "Yes, of course."

"So, are we good now?" Lola asked, still unsure of what exactly was going on.

"Yes," Miriam said, "Yes, we're good."

"Okay, then," Dean spoke up, "Aporation stealing Heaven's door is a go."


	29. Operation Stealing Heaven's Door

Asaeriel knocked on the bunker door anxiously, and waited for someone to answer.

The door opened, revealing Dean. "You weren't followed, were you?"

"No." Asaeriel replied, "I made sure of it."

Dean opened the door and gestured for her to come in. "Look who came in from the cold." He called out, as she descended down the staircase where the others were waiting for her.

"So?" Sam asked, apprehensively.

"I got it." Asaeriel said, "I'm guarding the door."

There was an almost collective sigh of relief.

"So, what now?" Asaeriel asked.

"Now," Sam began, "We move the door. Now, when we do this, all our operatives are going to have, to move fast. I don't want to lose anyone on this."

"Sam, you do realize that coughing you and myself we only have three people in Metatron's operation?" Gadreel pointed out.

"Yes," Sam said, "All the more reason for us not to lose anyone. Now, I have a spell that will allow us to move it. I just need a place to move it to. So, any ideas?"

"What about the woods around here?" Dean suggested, "I mean, they're isolated, we can have an eye on it at all times, and Metatron has no idea where we live."

" _I_ still have no idea where you live." Gadreel added.

"Okay." Sam said, "Let's do this."

The day everything was suppose to happen, Asaeriel realized their plan had hit an unanticipated snag. And that's snag's name was Purah, the angel she had been paired with. The angel she hadn't known about until five minutes before. Now, Sam was going to be there any minute and she no way to warn them.

 _"There's has to be some way to get rid of her."_ Asaeriel thought, looking over the other angel. She was smaller than her, in the body of a child, maybe on the cusp of pubescence. She could see why Metatron had paired them; with their similar looks they could easily pass for a mother and daughter. It wouldn't raise suspicion of any passer-by.

Her heart jumped in her throat as Sam appeared in the distance. His face fell when he saw the other angel.

"Lot." Purah said, her brow furrowing in confusing, "What are you doing here?"

"Um..."Sam began, "Well...uh...you see..."

With Sam fumbling for an explanation Asaeriel got an idea. She reached out and put a finger to Purah's forehead, and she fell to the ground.

"What did you do to her?" Sam asked, wide-eyed.

"She just unconscious." Asaeriel replied, "I figured since they're going to know it was us anyway, no need to bother with silencing witnesses."

"Alright." Sam said, pulling out the paper he had written the spell on. He read it off.

Suddenly the ground shook and there was a bright light, thought it didn't unwind like before. After a flash it was gone.

"Where is it now?" Asaeriel asked.

"If the spell worked right, the woods around the bunker." Sam replied, then too Asaeriel by the arm and teleported.

They appeared outside of the bunker. "So where exactly in the woods did you send it?" Asaeriel asked.

"I'm..." Sam began, "Not sure."

"What?!"

After gathering the troops they began an organized search of the woods for the door. Due mass of the woods and the fact one couldn't tell where the door was until they opened it, this was an almost impossible task. In fact it took them two days.

Then, finally, tired and dirty and irritated, Linda and Abner came to a clearing. They just stood there a minute, painting, then Abner began a procedure Sam had instructed.

Within a seconds the grown swirled, opening up.

"Holy crap," Linda gasped, "I think we actually found it." Then she pulled out her phone to call the others.

Soon, they were all gathered around the hole, staring into it.

"Well, it's...well-hidden."Cas commented.

Kevin snorted. "Yeah, a little _too_ well-hidden."

Several of them glared daggers at the boy.

"Well, it's not like we're all thinking it." Kevin said defensively.

"Okay," Dean spoke up, "I think I speak for all of us when I say need to bring this thing a little closer to base." _Man, I'm getting tired to being the voice reason around here._

"Okay, I'll make the spell more specific this time and put it across from the bunker." Sam said.

After Sam once again preformed the ritual, then they checked to make sure it wound up where they needed it to be. Everyone was overjoyed when it unfurled.

"Okay," Sam berthed, "That's one thing off the list." Though if Sam was being honest he wasn't sure what the next step was. They had the door, now what did they do with it?

He looked back and saw Dean's and the other's eyes dropping and he realized that might have to wait.

"You know, you guys don't have to be here for all this." Sam said.

"No, it's fine." Dean said, though he finished the statement with a yawn.

Kevin was leaning against Hael, barely awake. "I'll take care of this one." She said, leading him away, "You deal with the others."

Meanwhile, at Metathon's base of operations , Purah had been found and the door had been discovered missing, along with three angels. It didn't take much to put it together.

The ex-scribe brushed the angels who had the unfortunate job of telling him out of the room, then started twirling a blade on his desk. "If that's the way you want it Lot, or whoever you are," He said, "So be it."


	30. Awkward Dipolamacy

"This is a stupid plan." Muriel said, as they walked through the streets.

"I know," Sam murmured back to her, "So, let's go with it, and hope it works."

The plan they were referring to was the plan to get the angels to actually go through Heaven's door. After consulting with the map, he sent his angels out in teams of two to try to talk to any angels they found.

No one said it was a _good_ plan.

Sam was starting to feel that it _really_ wasn't a good plan, as they approached a rather large gaggle of angels walking down the street. "But if it does go sideways, save yourself," He whispered to her before addressing the group, "Hey guys. Would it, um, be okay, if me and my friend here, um talk to you for a second?"

"Not the most eloquent way of putting it." Muriel hissed to him.

"Yeah, well, that's what you get for making me your leader." Sam whispered back.

"What is it you would like to talk about?" A dark-skinned female angel spoke up making her way to the front of the group.

"That's, um, kind of complicated." Sam began, "You see...um..."

"We have a door that goes to Heaven and we want you to go through it with us." Muriel cut in, then cast her eyes down and said, "Sorry, sir."

"No, it's all right." Sam said, "You just saved me from making a complete fool of myself."

Sam's reaction to being interrupted caught the other angel's attention. "I'm Rebecca." She said, extending a hand to shake, "And who are you, brother? I don't believe we've met before."

"Sam." He replied, taking it, "I'm new."

"Well, Sam," Rebecca responded, "Let's talk."

Sam and Rebecca went off to discuss things in private while Muriel and her faction stayed on the street corner.

"Is she going to be okay back there with your people?" Sam asked, "My friend, I mean?"

"No need to worry, Sam." Rebecca replied, "My people and I are done with the bloodshed. There's no safer place for her."

Sam let out a sigh of relief.

"So this door your friend was talking about?" Rebecca asked, "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Sam replied, "I really just want to get a lid on this situation under control and the fastest way to do that is getting everyone back in the sky mall."

"United under you, I assume." Rebecca snipped.

"Actually, it's the opposite." Sam responded, "I haven't told the others this yet, but as soon as I get everyone back home, I'm stepping down."

Rebecca blinked in surprise. This angel _was_ different from the other faction leaders.

However, before she could response a harsh voice behind them said, "How about a little sooner than that?"


	31. When To Fight Back

They turned around to see two men, obviously angels, weapons drawn.

"You don't have to do this." Rebecca tried, stepping in front of Sam.

"Actually, if we come back, and you and yours aren't dead, our boss will have our heads." One of the angels said, "Literally."

The angels charge her, but Sam pushed her aside, deflecting his blades with the one he had brought. He shoved them, causing them stumble back a good foot. "Look, the lady's right," He said, "Just walk away now and nobody has to get hurt."

The man chuckled. "You penitents. You're actually pretty entertaining." Then he attacked again, but this time Sam stabbed him in the stomach. His eyes and mouth glowed as he feel to the grow, after-imaged wings appearing on the ground.

The other man backed up, looking surprised and scared. They hadn't been expecting much of the fight, let alone lethal violence. Suddenly, he panicked, running away.

Sam started to go after them, when Rebecca grabbed his arm. "Don't ," She said, "He's not a threat anymore."

"He and his buddy there just tried to kill us," Sam argued, "And now he's going to go running to his boss and tell him the job's not done. Plus, we could make him tell us who his boss is."

"Take your pick," Rebecca replied, "You know as well I do what it's been like down here. That's what I've been trying to stop."

Before Sam could argue further they heard screaming the sounds of fighting from where they had came. "Come on." Sam said, the pair running back in that direction.

When they arrived, they found a fierce battle ensuing, Muriel and the penitents were fighting other attackers, presumably with the two that had attacked Rebecca and Sam. They were putting up a pretty good fight, but serval in their number were on the ground, dead.

Just then one of the attackers was about to go for the death blow on another victim, when Muriel got in-between them, and stabbed him. She then grabbed his blade and ran to the next one.

Sam and Rebecca jumped into the fray. One if the attackers went at the female angel, but Sam quickly put him down. Soon it was a mess, of slashing and hitting , both sides taking loses, but eventually the attackers either all died or fled.

Or at least that's what they thought, until they stated to regroup and out of nowhere an olive-skinned female angel ran at Sam, only for Rebecca run in front of her stabbing her in the knee.

"I'm guess I'm more of a technical pacifist." She told Sam.

"Works for me." Sam replied, "Mind helping me lock her up somewhere until I can get hold of the others?"

Rebecca had group of her angels help Sam restrain his prisoner and secure her in a hastily warded closet. Then Sam got on the phone and starting calling people.

"Okay," He said, on the phone with Dean, walking back and forth and trying to ignore the pounding and screaming from inside the closet, "Thanks, Dean. See you in a few." Then he hung up, turning towards Rebecca. "Okay, so the others are on the way, we're going to get you back to the bunker safe, I promise."

He tried to ignore the violent struggling coming from the closet, but Rebecca's eyes gazed over it. "What are you going to do with her?"

"Get to the bottom of this." Sam replied, "I think things have gone on long enough, don't you?"

Rebecca looked uncertain.

"Look, I know you don't want to fight anymore," Sam said, "But they were the ones that attacked _you._ And now's the time to fight back."


	32. An Unexpected Second Chance

Hagar banged against the top of the trunk, trying to get out but it was no use. She kicked with the leg Rebecca had stabbed, and a surge of pain went through it. Tears of pain and emotion welled in her eyes.

It was ironic, she thought, she had only joined a faction to survive, and now it was what was going to get her killed.

The trunk opened up revealing the rather harsh-looking faces of Sam and Dean Winchester. She knew it was all about to be over.

She wanted to fight, to scream, to beg for her life even, but for some reason she found herself unable move, even the slight struggle the warded cuffs allowed for, and her mouth suddenly went dry. She just allowed them to drag her into the bunker.

She fought back a flinch as her wrist were pulled into the hair, along with the rest of the body. Dean Winchester stood in front of her, blade in hand.

"Okay, let's start this off with an easy one," He began, "What's your name?"

Hagar just stared him down. If she was going to die, she was going to do it with what precious little dignity she had left.

"Come on, you have to have one." Sam spoke up.

 _"Does it really matter now, anyway?"_ She thought as she said aloud, "Hagar."

"Well, Hagar." Dean began again, starting to walk around, "Why don't you make this easy on all of us and tell us who you're working for."

Hagar just stared at him.

"Okay, guess not." Dean sighed, almost remorseful, before making the first cut.

It had been over an hour and a half and Hagar still hadn't broken. Which was impressive, considering the damage was so bad Sam insisted they stopped to heal her, lest she die before they get what they need. Dean decided to use the time to take a break.

He walked into the main room to find Castiel and Muriel sitting at one of the tables.

"How's it going?" Cas asked.

"Not good." Dean admitted, "Either we've gone soft, or that chick had a high threshold for pain."

"Have you learned anything?" Muriel asked.

"Her name is Hagar, and that's about it." Dean replied, then he notice Cas jump, his eyes wide at the mention of her name, "Hey, you okay?"

"You're sure that's her name?" Cas asked, "Hagar?"

"Yeah," Dean said, walking closer to him, "You know her?"

"She under my command," Cas replied, "Before the Apocalypse. You're sure it's her? You're sure she wasn't lying?"

"I guess she could have," Dean admitted, "How well did you know her?"

"Admittedly I didn't know her that well," Cas answered, "But you know how when someone commits a horrible crime, sometimes someone will say they use to be a sweet kid?"

"Uh-hun," Dean nodded, not sure where this was going.

"Well, she really was a sweet kid ," Cas continued, " Got along with everyone. I once I had to go find when she snuck off to-" His voice trailed off as an idea formed in his mind, "I think I know how to get her to talk."

Five hours later Sam re-entered the dudgeon where they left Hagar, healed of most of her wounds, hanging.

"Can't you just kill me now?" Hagar asked, in what was meant to sound resolute and determined, but came out weak.

" No, because there's been a change of plans." Sam answered. _"An incredibly insane change in plans."_ He thought to himself, as he did _not_ think this was a good plan at all for several reasons.

"What does that mean?" Hagar ask as Sam approached her.

Unchaining her Sam answered, "It means we're trying the carrot, instead of the stick."

Before she could question that statement's meaning, Dean Winchester walked in again, accompanied by, to her surprise, her old commander, who was holding a small pink bundle. A pink bundle that was moving.

"Is that a..."Hagar began, but stopped when a little pale, bald head poked out, "W-What's a-What's an infant doing here?"

"We found her in behind a firehouse." Cas answered, "It was so early the men hadn't found her yet."

Neither he nor Dean could believe their luck when they saw the cardboard box and walked up to it, just to check. It was certainly easier than their original plan of snatching a tot from foster care. And would draw less attention from the authorities.

Before the confused Hagar could question it any further Cas asked, "Would you like to hold her?"

In spite of herself, Hagar nodded, and Cas walked up and handed the child to her.

"Careful now," Sam caucioned, clearly uneasy, "Support the head."

"Hello there." Hagar said, bouncing the child gently in her arms, staring down at her in amazement, "Hello, there you beautiful, little thing. Who could ever leave something so precious outside in the cold?"

"Firehouses will contact the proper authorizes and take care of the child until they get there." Sam spoke up, "It's not the most common thing, but it does happen."

As the baby wrapped a little hand around Hagar's finger, a horrifying fact hit her. "Why did you bring her here, then?"

"We thought," Dean began, "Maybe you would want to keep her."

Surprised and confused, Hagar's head jutted up. "W-Why? I'm your enemy. Why would you trust me with her?"

"Because you are incapable of hurting a child." Castiel spoke up, "You love them too much."

Hagar gave him a challenging look.

"Remember the NICU?" Cas reminded her, "When I found you had your face pressed against the glass. Said you just had to have closer look."

Hagar bit her lip. She remembered the incident. She knew it was true. She adored children, they were just so small, and fragile and beautiful. They needed protecting, and care. And that was why she couldn't have one. "I can't." She said, "I don't know how to care for her properly. I would hurt her. I wouldn't mean to, but, I would. She's better off with her own kind."

"We'd help you." Sam offered, "Or at least hook you up with people who can."

Tears welled up in her eyes as another harsh reality hit her. "I don't deserve her," She said, shaking her head, "Not after what I've done. I picked a side just to save my own skin, and I've done, horrible things for them, I've _killed_ for them!"

Startled by the raised voices, the child started to cry.

"I'm sorry," Hagar said quickly, pacing back and forth, bouncing the baby, "I'm so sorry." Then she started humming, which seemed to sooth the baby girl.

"Wow," Dean said, "For some who wouldn't know how to take care of her, you sure knew how to handle that."

Hagar shrugged. "I've been watching human mothers do it for centuries." She would secretly spy on them, taking note of everything they did with a twinge of envy at their ability to bear a child. A ability she didn't have. Well, tecnicaely now she could conceive in her human vessel, but it was forbidden.

"As for the things you've done," Cas added, "You not too far gone that you can't atone for it. Starting with which faction you're with."

Hagar looked down at the baby in her arms. Then she looked back up at the group. "Bartholomew. He's the one who ordered the attack."

The men exchanged looks. "Well, at least it's one we already knew about."

"But why would he want them dead?" Sam asked, "They're basically pacifists. Not really a treat to anyone."

"Doesn't matter." Hagar replied, "Still another place angels can go."

"Well, what else can you tell us about him?" Dean asked.

Letting her daughter wrap a hand around her finger, giving them a steely gaze. "Everything."


	33. The Bait

Bartholomew looked up at the sound of feet in the doorway of his office. He saw a very nervous looking male angel.

"What is it?" The pale-haired angel growled. He was in no mood for these unexpected interruptions. Not after just learning his operatives had been killed by the penitents, instead of the other way around.

"There's-a someone on the phone for you, sir." The other angel sputters, "Claims to be the one responsible for the massacre of our troops."

Bartholomew immediately ordered the phone brought to him. "You got some nerve." He snarled.

"Hello to you, too." Sam said on the other end of the line, "This is the second time I've nearly got caught in the crossfire on one of your little campaign, so I thought it was about time we've talked."

"So I take it you weren't actually with the penitents?" Bartholomew asked, curiosity overwhelming him, added, "Why were you there, then?"

"Same reason at you." Sam replied, "Or similar at least. But after your little-disastrous attack-you know what humans say about the enemy of my enemy being your friend?"

Bartholomew was quiet for a moment, trying to think of a response. He was somewhat used to his power being challenged. He wasn't however, use to those usurpers calling him for friendly chat. "How did you know I was the one who ordered the attack?"

"We left one little survivor," Sam said, looking over at Hagar, who was sat next to Dean, rocking a sleeping Tizrah in her arms, "She's stubborn, but after a little while, and a-lot of pain, she was begging to tell us everything." He paused for dramatic effect before saying, "I'd give her back to you if-"

He was cut off by Bartholomew laughing. "Why would I ever want that little traitor back? You can keep her."

Sam paused a minute, actually somewhat horrified at the disregard for Hagar's life. "Well, she would make a nice little recruitment tool." He oiled after a moment. He got so into it he reached out and stroked Hagar's cheek, causing the startled angel to rear back. Even Dean gave him a quizzical look.

 _Sorry,_ He mouthed.

"Recruitment tool?" Bartholomew asked, confused.

"I'll haul her out to show how the great Bartholomew treats his people." Sam explained, "First he sends an undermanned mission to their deaths, then, when he learns of a survivor in peril, he doesn't even _try_ to rescue her."

"So I should look past the fact that she gave information to the enemy?" Bartholomew replied.

"You don't know exactly what she gave up," Sam countered, "Or what kind of conditions she was under. Perhaps I said I would spare the others if she told."

"Was that what you told her?" Bartholomew asked.

"Meet with me and I'll let you know." Sam offered, smiling wickedly for a moment, then frowning when he realized what he was doing. Why did he keep doing that?!

"How do I know this isn't some kind of trap?' Bartholomew asked.

"You don't." Sam admitted, "But then again, I don't know I won't be walking into an ambush."

Bartholomew was silent for a moment, mauling over Sam's point. "Alright." He conceded, "Where do you want to meet?"

Sam gave him information for the meet, then hung up. "It's done."

"Are you sure about this?" Hagar asked, "He probably won't even come. Or at least he'll bring an ambush with him."

"That's why we're going to be ready." Sam replied, "Or at least as ready as we can. This guy's reign of terror has gone one long enough, it time to nip this in the bud."


	34. The Trap

Sam was leaned up against the car waiting for Bartholomew. As it got closer to the time they agreed, he feared that he might be a no-show.

Then a black car pulled up. The back opened up and two male angels stepped out. Neither of them matched the description Hagar gave of her ex-boss.

"What's this?" Sam asked, rooted to his spot.

From his spot hiding in the bushed with gun with melted down angel-blade bullets Dean was wondering the same thing.

"You said you wanted a meeting." One of the angels answered.

"With your _boss_." Sam stressed, "I may not have a picture but I know neither of you are him."

It was then Dean saw to his horror, third angel sneaking up behind Sam. Before he could attack Dean fired, hitting the angel in the shoulder.

A moment later, chaos erupted.

Sam turned around at the sound of the shot, and the angel behind him continued his attack only for Sam to push him aside. He stepped back, only for the other two to grab onto him. The three struggled, but eventually, they tossed Sam in the car before getting in themselves and driving off.

"Damitt!" Dean cursed before running to the car to follow them.

In that car, Sam was still fighting his captors kicking and struggling against them, sending one into the floor of the car.

"Settle down, will you?!" That angel exchanged, pulling himself up.

In response Sam introduce the sole of his shoe to the angel's face, inadvently shoving him into the driver's seat.

"What the Hell is going on back there?!" the driver exclaimed.

"This one's not going down without a fight." The angel holding Sam down explained.

"I know the boss said he wanted him alive, but does that nessacrily mean in one peace?" The driver suggested.

Looking at Sam with malice, the angel he had kicked said, "I'm willing to chance it."

The angel took out a blade, but before he could make the first cut, the whole car shook, being bumped by an outside force. It bumped them again, running them off the side of the road, sending the car spinning and two of them flying from the car.

Dazed, Sam forced himself upright as the back door opened, revealing Dean. "You okay?" He asked, helping Sam out of the totaled vehicle.

"Yeah," Sam replied, "Awesome timing."

Dean deposited his brother into the backseat, then turned to look at his kidnappers. Two were spread out, severely injured-if they were human they'd probably be dead-and one was crawling out of the car. Dean marched over to that one in stabbed him fatally, then went over to the other two, almost systematically repeating the process before walking back to the car.

"I guess that means we're going with plan B." Dean said, getting in the driver seat.

"I guess." Sam replied, "Man, I was hoping it wouldn't come to that." Plan B was lot more complicated and high-risk, especially since half of it hinged on people acting in ways they couldn't control.

But it looked like they would have to go with it.


	35. Scorched Earth

The first step of plan B was a visit to a police station.

"Yes, I would like to report a missing person." Sam said, "A Sylvia Rogers."

"And how do you know this person?" The officer asked.

"She's my cousin." Sam lied, "I haven't heard from her in two weeks, it's really unlike. I tried calling early, but they said sometimes adult just go off but-"

"At two weeks, something's definitely wrong." The officer agreed, "When was the last time you saw her?"

"The last time I saw her she was heading to Boyle's ministries, in Austin." Sam replied.

According to Hagar, Bartholomew had inserted himself and his people in a televangist operation to find new vessels. So far it had worked but Sam didn't think that would be the case if they were dealing with a dozen or so missing persons investigation.

Varying the time out, each person got turn preparing to be a vessel's or someone who had gotten blown up trying to be ones', concerned cousin, sister, brother co-worker, or friend. It didn't take too long for police to make a connection.

Just to seal the deal, Sam anonymously reported some shady finical dealings to the IRS.

"Sam, can we ask you something?" Hagar asked, with Muriel and Rebecca at her side, after he was finished.

"Sure." Sam replied.

The three females angels exchanged glances. "We were wondering..."Hagar began, her voice trailing off.

"How is this going to defeat Bartholomew?" Muriel finished for her, then her eyes went to the ground.

Sam paused a minute to think of how to best explain it to them. "The idea is that we'll cause so many problems for him he'll be forced to come out."

"And then you'll kill him?" Muriel asked.

"If it comes to it." Sam replied. As he said it thought it probably would. From what he heard the guy lusted for power and would destroy anyone who got in his way.

Which was why he was very fearful for the cops they sent after him.

Fortunately for all involved, while he was maniac, he was a smart maniac who knew that slaughtering police would draw unwanted attention. He just let hid in the back, watching the qausi-raid with gritted teeth.

Whoever did this was going to pay.

Two days Hagar was going over a check list with Kevin and Hael.

"Feed her every time the hands are one the red." She instructed gesturing to the watch where she had circled Tizrah's feeding times.

"Got it." Kevin said, taking it from her.

"And after the noon feeding she usually takes a nap." Hagar continued, "But if she won't go down sometimes it helps to rock her. Oh, and there's this little rubber bunny toy she loves-"

"Hagar," Sam cut her off, "They got this. And if they need help, Dean, Cas, and Mrs. Tran are here, too. Two out of three of them _do_ have experience raising babies."

"Alright." Hagar said, thought that only made her more nervous. While she trusted Kevin's mother, she wasn't sure about the other two, especially given what Dean had done to Bartholomew's soldiers. It just seemed to her as unessercarily cruel. She gave Tizrah one last kiss on the head, and said, "Goodbye, my love," as she and Sam walked out the door.

A half hour later, Sam was anxiously waiting on the corner while Hagar talked to her former comrades in a nearby building. He had been talking off the cuff when he talked about using her to recruit angels, but he realized it was kind of a good idea. Or at least using her to break the faction up. He didn't really care who the angels went to after that.

He just wished she hadn't insisted on going alone.

As he heard high-heels running across the side-walk, it appears his worst fears had been realized. A disheveled-looking Hagar came into view, saying, "We need to go. _Now._ "

Sam reached out to grab her arms and zapped out of there just before an angry mom of angels turned the corner.

When they landed back in the bunker, Dean was on the floor with Tizrah. When she rushed over to them he began, "Okay, I know I'm not your favorite person at the moment for some reason, but-"

However, Hagar didn't seem to notice him, scooping up the child saying, "Ooh, you precious thing, my precious little girl,' in an almost weepy voice, holding her close.

"I take it things didn't go well." Dean guessed.

After calming down, Hagar proceeded to tell them what had happened. It was actually going okay, until a couple of the die-hard loyalist started shouting from the crowd, calling her a traitor, until they had railed up a mob.

"I'm sorry, Sam," She finished, "I try to hold my ground, but there were so many of them, and they go so angry-"

"It's okay," Sam interjected pulling Hagar into a side hug, "You don't have to do it again. We'll find some other way."

At least that was the plan until one day Castiel was sent on a food run and noticed he was being followed. At first he tried a couple of evasive maneuvers, but he couldn't shake them. He gently wrapped his fingers around the gun in his jacket, ready to fight, when one of them said, "We're not here for you."

He turned around. "Excuse me?"

"Maybe later, " The angel who spoke earlier, a male with somewhat shaggy light brown hair, "But not now. We were hoping you could help us find a friend of ours."

"And why would I do that?" Cas asked, an edge in his voice.

The other angel, also male, spoke up almost timidly, "We, ah, think she might have been right."

Against his better judgment Cas lead them back to the bunker, and it turned out they were on the up and up. After that they paraded Hagar out five more times, with much greater security. Sam was not going to be responsible for making Tizrah an orphan twice. (Not that anyone outside the inter-circle knew about her.)

With human authorities investigating every part of Bloye ministries, and his soldiers disappearing Bartholomew was about to snap. He was pacing and gashing his teeth when the phone was brought to him. "Let me guess." he seethed, "You."

"Yep." Sam replied, from the other end, "So you want to try this again?"

The next say Sam was waiting by the car again, when yet again another car pulled up. This time one singular angel with pale brown hair, almost blonde, stepped out.

"Bartholomew." Sam declared, "Didn't think you'd actually come alone."

Suddenly, armed angels appeared from all around them.

"I didn't." Bartholomew said, smiling almost sadistically.

A few seconds later Sam's allies, human and angel appeared as well.

"Neither did I." Sam replied.


	36. The Showdown

**AN: Sorry, about the chapter yesterday everyone. I really have no clue what happened there. This is the same one, but only posted once.**

Almost immediately chaos erupted, both sides charging at the other.

Soon there were loses on both sides. Angels were stabbed or smited, falling to the ground, dead.

Dean was mere seconds from adding to the count, when he found himself tackled to the ground. He was turned around and saw one angel pinning him to the ground, and the one he had been fighting standing over them both.

"You want this one?" The angel holding him down asked.

"You know I do." The other angel replied before going down with the blade. However, before he could make it to his target his froze, his body glowing in a flash of light for a moment. He fell to the ground, revealing Hagar holding a knife.

Mere seconds later the angel pinning Dean to the ground was pried off by Muriel and Gradreel. Realizing he was outnumbered, the angel fled. Instead of following them, they went over to Dean and helped him up. "Are you alright?" Muriel asked.

"Yeah." Dean replied, "Thanks, guys."

Meanwhile across the field, Hael was standing off with another angel, one she had knew from before, both unwilling to make a move.

"You know, there is another way." Hael said.

"What?" The angel, a female named Raquel responded, "Join your faction?"

"That," Hael admitted, "Or you could just walk away."

Raquel scoffed. "A little too late for that, don't you think?" She gestured to the battle going on around them.

Hael paused a moment. That was good point. "I can get you out." Hael tried, "I'll sneak you out, to safety."

It was Raquel's turn to pause, looking at the battle around them. "I don't see how," She said, finally, but let's give it a try."

Bartholomew was unaware of all this. He was too focused one Sam. He saw one of his angels about to go attack. Jumping across the fray, he threw his angel away screaming, "No! This one is mine!" Then he turned to Sam, a manic grin on his face.

Sam pulled his blade and charged, the blade meeting the pale hair's angel's. Then they backed up and charged again. Sam dodged out of Bartholomew's way, getting a small nic. Then he pushed Bartholomew to the ground.

"No wait!" Bartholomew pleaded, his hand up in the air as Sam went for the death blow, "Please don't!"

I spite of himself, Sam paused. This monster had been the cause of so much suffering and here he was, begging for his life? He resumed his blade's descent, but his hesitation was all Bartholomew needed.

He grabbed onto Sam's arm, pulling him to the ground and jumping on top of him. Sam's face stung as he hit Sam once, then again. "Oh, I am going to take my time and enjoy this." Bartholomew said before making a small cut.

Suddenly Bartholomew was pulled off of Sam, his blade falling to the ground. Sam slowly sat up to see Bartholomew and Castiel rolling on the ground.

In the heat of the moment, Cas grabbed a nearby blade and slit Bartholomew's throat. A sliver of white grace flickered around the wound, and before Cas could even contemplate what he was doing, he opened his mouth, sucking it in. He was vaguely aware of Bartholomew screaming, but he couldn't really focus in anything as the power pulsed through him. Everything was blur for a moment, and when he came to, Bartholomew was one the ground, his eyes burnt out.

"Cas," Sam said in hushed voice, "What did you just do?"

A few hours later, all the rival angels had fled or died, using Sam and his group to clean up the bodies.

"You okay?" Dean asked, as they threw another body into the pit they had made.

"Yeah," Sam replied, "It's just...this was intense."

"We've been through worst." Dean shrugged.

Sam scoffed. "Yeah, I guess."

"And, hey, at least there's one less thing to worry about." Dean said, gesturing to Bartholomew's corpse, "Who got him anyway?"

"Cas, believe it or not." Sam replied.

"I'm not even gonna ask." Dean responded, before going off to get the lighter fluid.

As Sam looked into the grave containing both enemies and allies, he got the feelings their problems were just beginning.


	37. A Brief Reprieve

Sam walked into the bunker kitchen to find Dean sitting at his laptop with his head in his right hand staring at the screen. It was a bit concerning.

"Hey." He called out.

Dean barely looked up and answered in a raspy voice, "Hey."

"I thought going to bed after the movie." Sam said, regretting leaving him alone.

Dean cleared his throat. "What? Uh, no. I was, but then, 'Unforgiven' came on, and then I was too jacked to sleep, so...research."

"Uh, huh," Sam said, not really believing him, "And you didn't try to get Cas to come out of his room after I left?"

The battle hadn't been easy on any of them, and everybody reacted in their own way. Hael never left Kevin's side anymore, or perhaps it was the other way around. Hagar threw herself into mother hood. Castiel had locked himself in his room, and wouldn't come out. It wouldn't be so concerning were it not that it had been over a week, the others were on their way to recover, and no one had even _heard_ anything from the room. Dean managed to peak through the keyhole and saw him up at the bed, staring at the ceiling so they knew was alright. The Winchester had been going in shifts, trying to get him to come out. It got particularly intense last night and Sam tried to distract Dean with _Rudy_ last night just to give him a break. Unfortunately he had to deal with a situation with the angels before he could actually see to it Dean got off to bed.

"No," Dean replied, "I can prove it. I, ah, found us a case."

"Are you sure this is really a good time?" Sam asked, "With everything going on?"

"Sam, everything's at stand-still."Dean responded, "We haven't found any new angels, no new angels have found us, and Cas doesn't have to come out to eat, drink, or piss, so he's not coming out into he's ready."

Realizing Dean was right Sam said, "Okay, what is it?"

"There was a strange death Stillwater, Minnesota." Dean answered, "A competitive eater died after a hot-dog eating contest."

"So what?" Sam asked, coming over to him, "Death by tube steak?"

"If only." Dean replied, "He got attacked in his car, but , uh, get this-he shrunk from 300 pound to 90 pounds."

 _Yeah, this is one of ours._ Sam thought. "Witchcraft?" He guessed.

"Or a heavy -duty laxative." Dean quipped, "You game?"

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "Just give me a minute to put some things in order."

And so after putting Muriel in charge and saying they didn't know when they would be back, the Winchesters left.

Dressed as FBI, they had to wait for someone to talk to them. At last the sheriff, as woman with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, came over to them holding two files, one of which she handed to Sam. "Thanks for your patience, agents." She said, "Corner's report finally came in."

"All right, thank you." Sam replied, opening it, "All right, let's see. Did Wayne McNut really weigh 300 just moments before his death?"

"316 to be exact." The Sheriff confirmed.

In spite of himself, Sam was taken aback. "And the official cause of death?"

"Cardiac arrest." The Sheriff answer, "But between you and me, that's just a guess. The vic suffered massive organ damaged . " She turned around and gave the report to a girl at a desk, "Here you go, Jenny." Then she continued talking to the boys, "Ruptured spleen, pierced liver, collapsed lung. Looked like everything was just stocked right out of him." When she finished, she poured herself some coffee.

"Like he'd been hovered?" Dean asked.

"Yeah." Donna replied, "Yeah, you know, I got to be honest fellas-hm?" She took a powdered doughnut out of box and offered them one.

Dean gladly walked over and grabbed one for himself.

"We're stumped." The Sheriff admitted, "This tape of thing just doesn't happen in Stillwater." She took a big bit of the donut, covering her mouth and black tie with the white powered sugar.

Looking at the report, Sam asked, "Now, did Wayne have any enemies?"

"Hmm." Sheriff responded, "More like an unfriendly rivalry."

Dean took a big bite of his own donut and white power covered his lips and face.

"A guy named 'Slim Jim' Morgan." The Sheriff continued, "Like Wayne, he was pretty well-known in the competitive-eatin' circuit."

Sam looked up from the report and noticed Dean's face. He tried to subtlety motion to him to wipe his face. Dean whipped the side of his which took off exactly none of the powered sugar. Giving up, Sam tried to stay focus on the sheriff. "Competitive-eating circuit? Is that a big thing out here?"

"Oh, yeah." The Sheriff confirmed, "You betcha. Folks take it real seriously-train for months. Eat all sorts of wackadoo stuff, you know, like, uh...Baked beans, buff wings, butter."

That threw Dean for a loop. "Butter?"

"Yeah." The Sheriff confirmed, "Sometimes deep-fried."

"Hm." Dean mused, taking another bite and spreading powder everywhere.

"This year alone, Wayne won the Butter Bowl, the Wing Dig, and Shrimptasia." The Sheriff explained, "Anyhoo, point being, Wayne McNut was the only one Slim Jim couldn't beat in the whole Great Lakes region."

"So is he a suspect?" Dean asked.

"We checked him out, but Slim Jim was in the Hot Doggery at the time of Wayne's death, and we got 15 witnesses to prove it." The Sheriff Replied.

Dean didn't know what he couldn't believe more; that after being defeated in a hot dog eating contents that this man went to eat _more_ hot dogs, or that so many people remember seeing him do it. "Really?"

"Yah." The Sheriff replied.

Dean and the Sheriff exchanged looks and then took simultaneous bites of their donuts, chewing contently.

 _"We got to find out if she's single,"_ Sam thought, _"Dean might have just found his soul mate."_

After getting Slim Jim Morgan's address, they went to his house. They found the man feasting on a gigantic bowel of lettuce.

"Training." Slim Jim explained, with a foul mouth, "When I gear up for a competition, I eat lettuce-stenches the stomach."

"Yet another reason to stay away from salad." Dean commented, grossed out.

 _"Yeah, I think he's turned me off it, too."_ Sam thought before say aloud, "How well did you know Wayne McNut?"

"Well, well enough to know he was a weasel and a cheat." Slim Jim replied, "I hate to say it, but, uh, karma's a bitch."

Dean noticed a shelf full of spell jars and funny-shaped boxes. "This is interesting." He commented.

"Mala's good-luck charms." Slim Jim offered in way of explanation.

"And Mala is...?" Dean asked.

"My old lady." Slim Jim answered.

"Is your old lady superstitious?" Dean asked.

"Yah." Slim Jim confirmed, " She's Romanichal. "

"Romanichal?" Dean asked, understandably confused.

"Gypsy." Sam explained.

"But don't call her that." Slim Jim warned, "She says it's reductive. But I think it's a compliment. I mean, gypsies are all the rage on TV- _My Big Fact Gypsy Wedding, Gypsy Sisters_... _Keeping Up With The Kardashians."_

"Um," Sam began before clearing his throat, "You mind if I use your bathroom?"

"Yeah, go ahead." Slim Jim allowed, "But use the one upstairs at the back. Mala's taking a shower in ours."

"Right." Sam said, leaving.

When Sam was gone, Dean asked, "Did you really use the 'Weiner Winner' by one dog?"

"Yah." Slim Jim confirmed.

Sam snuck into the Morgan's bedroom. He could hear the shower running so he took a look around. He noticed a hex bag on the nightstand. Then the shower stopped, so he grabbed it and hightailed it out of there before he got caught.

Back in the kitchen, Dean still had questions about the hot dog eating compotation.

"And what are we talkin'?" Dean was asking, "Six inches? Foot longs?"

"Look, agent," Slim Jim responded, "Am I suspect here, or what? 'Cause unless you got a warrant-"

Before Slim Jim could finish Sam returned. Clearing his throat, he said, "You, uh, ready to go?"

"Yeah." Dean said, standing up, "Uh, Mr. Morgan, thank you for your time." He pulled out his card, "If you remember anything else, this is our number and where you're staying locally." After handing Slim Jim their card, they left.

Back at the motel, Dean was picking as the hex bag on the table. There was human hair and marbles and other weird things. "All right, so we got what appears to be Wayne McNut's hair and ...a big bag full of weird."

Reading from the lab top Sam explained, "In Romanichal culture, the pouch is called a putsi bag. It's use for hexes."

"Okay, so what?" Dean asked, "Mala's putting hexes on hubby's competition?"

Sam shrugged.

" I mean, what do we have ourselves a _Thinner_ sitch here?" Dean continued.

"Slim Jim might not even know." Sam said.

"Hm." Dean responded.

Just then there was a knock on the door. The boys exchanged looks and Dean got up with his gun drawn. He looked through the peephole and saw a lovely dark haired woman he recognized as Mala. He shrugged and opened the door. Mala smiled at him.

"Hi." Dean greeted, not knowing what else to say.

"I believe you have something of mine." Mala replied.

They let Mala into the room and asked her point-blank if she had did Wayne in with the Putsi bag. She got so enraged that Dean had to give her a glass of water.

"Kill Wayne?" She explained once she had calmed down, "I loved him!"

"So...you were..." Sam stammered, for some reason uncomfortable using the words 'having an affair.'

"Yes." Mala responded, "Okay? We were having an affair-for years actually."

"I don't mean to be rude, uh..." Dean began, "But how is it that Wayne McNut is your type? I mean, you married a man who's barely a buck-wet."

"What can I say?" Mala replied, "Sometimes it's nice to feel a little give..."

"Oh." Dean responded, "Yeah, I get that-a little extra cushion for the, uh..."

Sam shot Dean a glare that caused him to stop awkwardly.

Trying to regain the conversation, Sam said, "Help me understand something. If you loved Wayne, why did you put a curse on him?"

"It wasn't a curse." Mala answered, "Putsi bags are also used for blessings. I wanted Wayne to win. Plan was, take the prize money, get a quickie divorce, and then tie the knot in Orlando." Quietly she added, "Wayne use to call me his 'Princess Jasmine.'"

Dean smiled almost wistfully but hid it when Sam looked over.

Meanwhile back in Kansas, Kevin was attempting to show Hael a romantic afternoon.

"Why would you want to eat on the ground when you have a table to eat at?" She asked, watching Kevin spread the checkered planet on the ground.

"Because it's fun." Kevin answered, smoothing out the blanket.

"Why?" Hael asked.

"Because, it's something different." Kevin replied, "Trust me, just give it a try."

"Okay." Hael said, sitting down next to him.

Kevin pulled two sandwiches out of his basket, handing one to Hael. Since he had gone to all the trouble of making it for her, she unpeeled the plastic around it and took a bite.

"I-Is it okay?" Kevin asked, slightly apprehensive.

"Yes." Hael answered, "What is it?"

"Ham and cheese." Kevin replied.

"You're a good cook." Hael commented before taking another bite.

Kevin chuckled a little. "I just made a sandwich, it's hardly rocket science."

Before Hael could respond, she noticed someone coming up the road. "Do you see that?"

"Yeah," Kevin responded, standing up. As they figure out closer they recognized who it was.

"Muriel?" Hael asked when she got into hearing distance, "What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for Castiel," Muriel answered urgently, "Have you seen him?"

"Have you checked his room?" Kevin asked.

"That's the problem." Muriel explained, "I just went by his room and he was gone and...there was blood on the floor."


	38. Let's Get Physical

Muriel lead Kevin and Hael back to the bunker, where they found there was in fact, a large spot of blood on the floor of Castiel's room in front of a shattered mirror. What's more, there were several holes in wall, as well what few objects were in the room thrown around, the small dresser broken.

"Is it his?" Kevin asked, "Does angel blood like give off a certain signal to you guys?"

"No." Muriel answered, "I don't know if it's his, but something happened here. I don't want to this to get out until we know more about what's going on, so the only person I have helping me is your mother."

"Not anymore." Kevin volunteered.

The next morning in Minnesota, Sam and Dean got word of another vacuumed body at the local gym.

"Any idea what the vic weighed before hand?" Sam asked one of the officers while Dean examined the poor woman's body.

"165." The officer answered.

" The officer answered.

"So...180." Dean guessed, "Known fact-all women lie about their weight and age."

"Wait, you told that waitress the other day that you were 29." Sam remembered.

"Mm-hmm." An abashed Dean murmured.

"Need anything else, agents?" The officer asked.

"Yeah," Sam answered, "Is Sheriff Hanscum around?"

"Sorry." The officer replied, "She's out for the rest of the week. Hell of a time to take a vacation, right?"

As the officer walked off, Sam walked up to his brother. "Okay, so, we have two victims, with seemingly nothing in common except, uh-"

"A love for éclairs." Dean quipped, "Check this out."

They both bended down to look at the body and Dean pulled up her shirt a little to reveal a large, circular red mark. "What is that?" He wondered aloud, "A birthmark?"

"Huh." Sam mused, "So the weight had to come off somehow, right? What if it's a suction mark?"

"A suction mark?" Dean repeated, "Okay. Uh, Changeling?"

"Yeah, but Changelings only take over kids." Sam pointed out, "Neither of the vics had any."

"And we don't know if Wayne McNut had a suction mark." Dean added.

"Unless we missed it." Sam suggested.

"Yeah." Dean agreed, noticing an attractive girl walking in and talking to an officer, "Well, we should, uh, split up. One of us should hit the morgue. The other should stay here and question the staff."

Noticing what Dean was staring at Sam said, "I'll stay."

"Ain't gonna happen." Dean told him bluntly.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Because you're weird around girls." Dean replied.

"What does that mean, weird?" Sam asked.

"You're awkward." Dean explained, "You know-Sam weird. Sorry man. I'm just...being honest."

Dean walked away and Sam sighed.

Later Dean was talking to the attractive gym girl. "So you were scheduled to close the gym last night?"

"Yeah, but I didn't exactly lock up." The woman confessed, "Carol was still working out, and," the woman sighed, "I had a date. I didn't want to shortchange her, you know? I mean, the poor girl has been working so hard to lose weight for her wedding. I slipped her the key and I told her to lock-up on her way out." She started to cry. When she leaned over to get a tissue her shirt road up and Dean noticed she had the same suction mark as Carol on her back."Oh, it's all my fault."

When he got back to the hotel Sam hadn't returned from the morgue, so he decided to do some research to find what the three victims-one living two dead-had in common.

"Hey." Sam said once he returned.

"Find anything at the morgue?" Dean asked.

"Yeah." Sam replied, "Uh, so, Wayne was banged up pretty bad. But on the back of his neck, just below the hairline...suction mark-identical to Carol's."

"Okay, so both had marks, just like the hot trainer at _Rollz._ " Dean said.

"But she was skinny..." Sam pointed out, "And alive."

"And just recently lost a tone of weight." Dean added, "When I asked her about the mark, she, uh-she clamed up, got all embarrassed. So, uh, I did some checking. And it turned out she took a couple of "me' days last month, and went here." He turned the lab top around to see the website for a day spa.

"Canyon Valley?" Sam asked.

"Hm." Dean replied, "Yeah."

Dean pushed the promo video. Mid-tempo music started to play and voice over with a Peruvian accent began, "When you look in the mirror, do you recognize the fat person staring back at you. Have you tried every fad diet, every fitness trend out, but nothing seems to work. Here at Canyon valley, we guarantee weight loss with no surgery...No extreme dieting...and in intensive workout regimen. Guaranteed results in one week! You _can_ reach your weight-loss goals. We did. But only if you reach for the phone and call Canyon Valley...Now!"

"How far away is that place?" Sam asked, thinking it might actually be a lead.

"Couple of hours." Dean replied.

That was how Sam and Dean wound up being interviewed by the two people in the promo video, a tall man named Larry and his wife, Maritza, who had done the voice-over.

"We were really, really moved by the online testimonials." Sam told them.

"Oh, yeah." Dean agreed, "That was some powerful stuff."

"Are you boys both certified personal trainers?" Maritza asked.

"Yeah." Dean lied, "Yeah, personal training brothers. Kind of like Hans and Franz, but, uh, less German."

"And you're certified in..."Larry questioned.

"Makin' people sweat!" Dean replied enthusiastically, "Yeah. Kickin' ass and takin' names! "He slammed his hand on the table, "That's how we do!"

Sam had a feeling the couple were starting to doubt their lagimentcy. And their sanity. "Uh..."He began, thinking of a way to salvage the situation, "Uh, to clarify, what brother's trying to say is, we both have a passion for fitness and helping people."

"Oh, us, too." Maritza replied, "In fact, that's how we first met."

"I was Maritza's first client back in Peru." Larry explained, "I was on a student visa-homesick, stressed, eating my troubles away."

"Oh, he was the size of a Casa." Maritza recalled.

"Oh, it's true." Larry agreed, "I was one empanada away from a heart attack. But then this...gorgeous, godsend made me the lean, mean, fighting machine I am today." He went crazy with some kungfu fighting techniques to demonstrate.

"Ho!" Dean responded, acting like he was impressed, "Oh..."

"But I digress." Larry continued, "Now, good news is, we are hiring. The bad news is, there's only one train position available. "He looked at Dead, "How do you feel about working in another's department?"

"Hun?" Dean responded.

Later, Dean was staring out the lunch room at the facility, wearing a hair net. Sam approached from the hallway dressed in a tank-top and workout shorts. For a second Dean thought he got the better end of the deal.

"Nice shorts." Dean smirked.

"Nice hairnet." Sam quickly shot back.

"Why do I got to be the lunch lady?" Dean complained.

"Since when have you ever complained about being around food?" Sam replied.

"Okay, this is not food." Dean informed him.

That was when he was interrupted by another kitchen worker. "Hey, new guy. Quit flirtin' with the trainer and keep scoopin', hun?"

Dean turned back and glared at him.

Sam checked his watch, then said, "It's alright. My, uh, ...Ashtanga yoga class starts in five minutes."

"How the Hell do you know anything about yoga?" Dean questioned.

"You're not the only one who's ever dated someone bendy." Sam answered before leaving.

 _If he wasn't made of titanium now I'd make good on that threat to break his nose._ Dean thought, as it was the only thing he could think of that would come close to fixing this indignity.

Just then another lunch worker approached him, "Hey, you have any oatmeal?"

Dean chuckled. "Yeah, I wish. No, but we have, uh, something that's tofu over there. I-what is that? It's a pancake. It's tofu."

Back at the bunker, Cas had official been missing 24 hours. Having exhausted all avenues of searching Muriel, Hael, Kevin and Linda were gathered around a table discussing their next move.

"We need to at least call Sam and Dean." Kevin said, "Tell them what's going on."

"Should we really bother them with this on a case?" Hael asked.

"Hael, they've practically adopted the guy." Kevin replied, "If they come back and find out that he's missing, probably against his will, possibly hurt-well, do you want to be there when it happens?"

"Make the call." Muriel ordered flatly.

Kevin pulled out his phone and started to dial the number when they heard the door open, and someone descend the stairs.


	39. Pudding

"Stay here." Muriel said, taking out her blade and starting up the stairs.

She crept up the stairs listening as the steps got closer. When it sounded like he was in inches of her, she raised her blade to attack, but froze when she saw who it was. "Castiel?"

Back in Minnesota, Dean was playing on his phone and the kitchen when he felt something hit the back of his neck, causing him to jerk upright. He found Alonso, the kitchen worker that accused him of flirting with Sam, over a tray of kale.

"Flojo." Alonso called him, "You got time to lean, you got time to clean, huh?"

Annoyed, Dean started whipping the counter, "I'm starving. What do we get to eat?"

"Same as the clients." Alonso replied.

"They expect us to eat this rabbit food?" Dean balked.

"It's not rabbit food." Alonso chided, "It's supper food."

"I'm not eating it." Dean mumbled.

Alonso sighed sitting a bowel of dark yellow pudding next to Dean and several empty bowls. "At Canyon Valley, we're supposed to lead by example."

"This is leading by example?" Dean questioned.

"It's not for us, stupido." Alonso scolded, "It's for the clients. They're allowed to have pudding on their spa day. It's like a-a last hurrah before the real work starts. Get to work." And with that he walked off.

Dean sighed and started to fill a bowel of pudding. Then he got an idea. After checking to make sure no one was watching he took a small spoonful of pudding and put it in his mouth, which was filled with a salty sweetness. "Hm." He mused to himself, "Looks like it's my 'spa day', too." He chuckled and slipped the bowl into his apron.

Meanwhile, Sam was attempting to teach his Yoga class.

"Okay, good job, guys." He was saying, "Go to uh...Downward Dog." _That's a pose, right?_ He thought as he showed them, grunting. "Hold for five minutes."

"Five minutes?" An understandably confused yoga student spoke up, "It's usually 30 seconds."

"Right." Sam responded, "Yeah, 30 seconds. That's what-that's what I mean." Standing up he continued, "Okay, uh, I'll just come around, make sure everybody's form is okay..."As everyone's shirts road up because of the upside down position, Sam noticed they _all_ has suctions marks on their back. "...make sure, uh, keeping your cores tight, and your-uh, good job. Great. Straiten that back up." He had to look like he was doing something, right?

Meanwhile, Dean had hid away in a small country to eat his contraband pudding, rather pleased with himself.

"Mmm. Mm." He mused as he finished the last of the concoction. He tried to stand up, but went pale, and swayed sideways. Completely losing consciousness, he fell to the floor.

After his Yoga class, Sam was greeting everyone as they left.

"Well done today!" He was saying, "Good job! Good work guys! Good work! Okay. Good work. See you all soon. Good job."

It was at that point another employee, Larry, came down the hallway towards Sam, wheeling what appeared to be a rather loop Sheriff Hanscum in a wheelchair.

"How was class?"Larry asked.

"It was, uh...great." Sam answered, hopping the woman wouldn't say anything, "Yeah."

"Agent Frehley?" Sheriff Hanscum spoke up, "What are you doing here?"

"Agent Frehley?" Larry questioned.

"Uh, I-I-I don't know." Sam stammered, "She must be pretty out of it, hun?" Just then his cell phone rang, rescuing him. "Oh, excuse me. Sorry. I got to get this. Have a good one." Then he walked off, answering his phone, "Yeah?"

"Sammy." Dean slurred.

"Dean?" Sam asked, realizing something was wrong, "What's wrong with you?"

"I need you." Dean said face down, and his limbs tangled on the floor of the pantry.

"Where are you?!" Sam demanded, alarmed, "Dean!"

Dean squinted to read the bag of the nearest food. "Sweet potatoes!" He exclaimed, "Sw..."He lost consciousness and his phone fell to the floor.


	40. Triming The Fat

Sam ran through the hallways of the resort looking for his brother, pulling open any door he saw. "Dean?" He called out, "Dean! Dean! Dean!"

He was starting to panic when from behind a door Dean's voice said, "Sammy."

Sam brush through the door and found his brother still halfway out on the floor. He ran up and started slapping his shoulders. "Dean! Hey! Hey! Wake up!"

"What took you so long?" Dean groaned.

"What the Hell happened?!" Sam demanded.

"I was drugged." Dean answered.

"Dru-"Sam began, "What?"

"Pudding." Dean elaborated, still loopy and lying on his stomach, "It was suppose to be for the clients but I couldn't resist."

Sam saw a bowel nearby. He picked it up and smelled it. "What, salted caramel?"

"Yeah, man." Dean confirmed, "The best of both worlds-salty and sweet."

"Right," Sam said realizing Dean would be no help in his state, "Uh...Alright, you stay here."

"No, no, I'm gonna come with you." Dean protested, however when he tried to get up to follow Sam he had no balance and fell on the floor, "Go ahead. I'll catch up."

Sam rushed into the kitchen where he found the chef. "Hey." Sam addressed him, "Did you make the pudding?"

"Depends." The Chef replied.

"On what?" Sam asked.

"Whether you liked it or not." The chef answered.

In no mood for games Sam angrily slammed the man up against the wall, demanding, "What's in it?!"

"Relax, Jack Lalane." The frightened chef urged, "It's low-cal. Nonfat milk, sea salt-"

"No, no." Sam cut him off, still yelling, "Not the ingredients. The something extra."

"Chill man." The Chef replied, "Supplements, okay?"

Back in the pantry, Dean was sitting up but had a monster headache. "What kind of supplements?"

Sam put a hand to Dean's forehead and focused, then handed him an energy drink for good measure, which he die drink. "Here" He handed the supplement bottle to him, "Hey. To boost metabolism per Larry and Maritza."

Looking in the bottle, Dean declared, "These aren't 'supplements,' they're ruffies."

"What?" Sam asked, "How do you know what ruffies look like?"

"How do you not know?" Dean replied, "You think I want to end up in a hotel bathroom with my kidney's carved out? In Chechnya? "He groaned, "Did you find anything at the yoga?"

"Yeah." Sam answered, "Yeah. _Invasion of the body snatchers._ Every single person in class had one of those freaky-ass suction marks."

"What the Hell's goin' on here?" Dean asked.

Sam thought there was someone who might know.

"You know," Sheriff Hanscum began, "I didn't mean to bail on you fellas, but I've been waiting over six months to get into Canyon Valley. And let me tell ya, it was worth it. I already lost 10 pounds!'

"In-in one day?" Sam asked ginunely shocked.

"No offense Sheriff,-'cause you look great-um, but aren't you the least bit curious as to how you dropped 10 in a day?" Dean added.

"Well, to tell you the truth, Agent, I don't really give flying fudge." Sheriff Hanscum replied, before chuckling, "My husband, Doug, left me last year 'cause he said I loved cookie-dough milkshakes more than him"

"Sorry to hear that." Sam said.

"Yeah, Doug's a dick." Dean agreed, "You deserve better."

"Thanks." Sheriff Hanscum said, "But he was right. That was a dark time for me. Whoever said eat you pain? Not me. I guzzled it." She laughed, "Anyhoo...I guess I wanted to feel pretty again. And Canyon Valley did that. Only question is...What are you doing here?"

"We're, uh, uh..."Dean began, "We're undercover."

"Yeah." The sheriff smiled, "Sort of got that."

"We think there's a connection between Canyon Valley and the murders in town." Dean explained, figuring a vague version of the truth was best in this situation.

"What kind of connection?" Sheriff Hanscum inquired.

"Suction marks." Sam admitted.

"You mean like this?" She pulled back her shirt and showed them her suction mark.

"Yeah." Sam replied, "Where did that come from?"

"My spa treatment." Sheriff Hanscum explained, "Cupping."

"Cupping?" Dean repeated.

"Yeah." Sheriff Hanscum confirmed, "You know, I thought it was gonna hurt, but honestly, I snoozed through the whole thing. By the time I woke up, I was down two dress sizes."

"Before the cupping, did you eat any pudding?" Dean asked.

Sheriff Hanscum laughed. "Darn tootin'. Licked the bowel clean."

"Donna, do you remember who did this treatment?" Sam asked, figuring that was who they were looking for.

"Oh, yeah." Donna replied, "You betcha."

After getting the Intel from the Donna the brothers split up, looking for Martiza. He found her pouring what looked like fat into the garbage. He was pretty sure she was about to _eat_ from one of the jars when she heard him and turned around to see he had a gun drawn on her.

"Okay, I'm no health nut, but that's just wrong." He said.

Apparently what Maritza was could be taken out by bullets, as it did not take much of a fight to tie her to a chair. "All right, talk." He commanded once he was done.

"This isn't what you think." Maritza pleaded, "I'm not a killer."

"Well, then, what are you?" Dean asked, humoring her.

"I'm a Pischtaco." Maritza answered.

"A fish taco?" Dean asked, highly confused.

"A Pischtaco." Maritza repeated, "It means 'Peruvian fat sucker.'"

"Never heard of it." Dean replied, "So, what, you're like vamps with a sweet tooth for cellulite?"

"Vampires kill." Maritza insisted, "We're just...Parasites."

"Oh, well, in that case-"Dean began sarcastically.

"Look, I would never hurt anybody!" Maritza pleaded, "Okay, this-is why Larry and I started Canyon Valley. We could help people lose weight, and I could feed. It's a win-win."

Dean had to admit, her story might have been believable, were it not for how they caught on to her. "Yeah, except for the two people you _Dysoned_ to death."

"That wasn't me." Martiza informed him ruefully.

"Well, then, who was it?" Dean asked.

Maritza couldn't believe it had come to this. "Alonso."

"The due from the cafeteria?" Dean asked, actually a bit surprised.

"He's my brother." Martiza informed him.

Meanwhile, back at the bunker, Castiel had set down with the rest of the group, allowing Muriel to heal his hand.

"Who did that to you?" She asked him.

"I did to myself." Cas answered.

That shocked everyone into silence. Linda was the first to speak with a simple, "What?"

"I -I believe the term is I went on a tear." Cas replied.

"That's one word for it." Kevin responded, "Where were you?"

"Thinking about some things." Cas explained, "And I've decided...I need to go."


	41. Can't Pick Your Family

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Hael asked.

"I'm a danger to all of you here." Castiel reasoned, "No angels will join Sam with me around."

"That hasn't stopped them so far." Linda pointed out, "I mean, half of the group here are angels."

"That was when I was in the background and they weren't really making the connection." Cas replied, "Before they saw kill another angel and consume his grace."

"Is that what this is about?" Muriel spoke up, "Everyone knows you were just trying to save Sam."

"Do they?" Cas responded.

"He does have a point, not a lot of people actually saw it." Kevin added.

"Yeah, that's not helping, honey." Linda spoke up.

Cas stood up, "Look, this is exactly what I was hoping to avoid. Just let me get some bus fair and I'll be gone."

Meanwhile, back at the spa, Larry was confronting his brother-in-law in the kitchen. "I knew you were a lost cause. Unlike you're sister, you're weak."

"Good to see you too, Larry." Alonso responded, not realizing he had been discovered.

"How could you do this to her?" Larry demanded, "To us?"

"Do what?" Alonso asked, thinking he was still in the clear.

Larry scoffed and held up the article he had found. "This!"

Alonso realized he had been caught. "Oh, that."

"Oh, yeah, that." Larry responded harshly, "You know what that means? Hun? Now there are hunters here!" Maritza had told Larry all about hunters when she told him what she was.

"It's your fault, blanco!" Alonso shot back, "If you didn't starve me, maybe-"

"Listen, freak!" Larry cut him off, "Your sister and I spent years building this operation. And if you think I'm gonna let your gluttony destroy it, you got another thing coming. I want you out. Now."

"I'm not leaving Maritza." Alonso informed him.

"Well, I got news for you, pal." Larry responded, "She doesn't want you here, either. Either you leave...or I'll make you."

Sam was walking by the kitchen and heard a man scream. He ran in and found Larry dead on the floor, his neck bleeding out into the drain.

He reunited with Dean and they exchanged what they hand found. On the news of her husband's death Maritza, still bound to the chair, burst into tears.

"I brought Alonso here from Peru to show him a better way, a more civilized way." She lamented, "One where we weren't monsters. That the secret to coexisting with humans was just...eating enough to get by."

"Let me guess." Sam began, "Alonso wasn't a big fan of portion control, was he?"

"No." Maritza confirmed, "During a routine treatment, he almost killed a client. He sucked out too much fat. I demoted him to kitchen duty-no human contact, just fat from a jar. But he said the more I deprived him, the hungrier he got." She started to sob. "And now three people are dead. My husband..." Her voice trailed off.

"Where's Alonso right now?" Sam asked. Time was of the essence. They needed to stop Alonso before he struck again.

"The-the basement?" Maritza stammered, "That's-that's where he spends most of his time now."

"What about her?" Sam asked, looking at Maritza.

"Well, 'till we figure out which side she's on, she's stays put." Dean declared.

"I am on your side." Maritza insisted.

"Okay." Sam replied, "Then how do we kill him?"

After Maritza instructed them in what to do, Dean and Sam went searching in the basement by the light of flashlights. They silently nodded to each other to split up to cover more ground. Dean found Alonso's hide-out with all his empty fat jars.

Sam on the other side, Sam just came across the dead body of the chef he had accosted earlier. _Crap. Poor guy,_ He thought. Whatever else Sam felt about him, he didn't deserve to die.

Seeing a wardrobe on the wall, he wanted over to it and began to look in it. Then it fell, trapping him underneath it before he could react. From on top of it, Alonso began to speak. "You and stupido have no chance. The fat makes us stronger."

Sam threw the wardrobe and Alonso with it, across the room. "Your sister didn't mention that when she ratted you out."

Alonso got to his feet. "You're lying!" He screamed before growling and leaping at Sam who managed to get out of the way.

"I guess after you killed her husband...you were too monstrous, even for her." He pulled out the knife and charged up this time Alonso ducked again.

Alonso charged him again, but Sam punched him again, probably with more force that was nesacary. He stuck out his Pishtaco tongue, but he cut it off just as Dean arrived. Alonso screamed and fell dead.

"Thought you might need help." Dean said, "Apparently I was wrong."

After cleaning up the evidence of the supernatural, they got the sheriff, who got her men, and they told their cover story.

"We'll let you know if we need any other information." The officer said, "Thanks for everything. Appreciate it."

As they walked away, Sam saw Maritza sitting alone in an alcove off the hallway. He walked over to her, gently saying, "Hey."

Maritza looked up. "What did you tell the Sheriff?"

"The usual-psycho killer on the lose." Sam answered, "They, uh...they usually buy it."

"I lost my whole family today." Maritza said quietly.

"I'm sorry," Sam said sincerely, "I..." His voice trailed off at a loss for words.

Just then Dean entered the cove. "So," He said, addressing Maritza, what do you want to do?"

After putting Maritza on the flight back to Peru, they headed back to the bunker. "Hey guys," Dean called out as they walked in, "We're back!"

When they were met with silence, they were worried that something was wrong. "Hey, guys." Sam called out, as they walked up the stair, "You okay?"

Then they reached the top, where everyone was waiting for them.

"Well, this doesn't look good." Dean said, "What's with the intervention?"

"Guys, we have something we have to tell you." Kevin said, thumbing a letter in his hand, "It's about Cas."


	42. Distractions

Castiel paused as he heard the sound of wings flapping behind him.

He turned around, prepared for a fight, then he remembered only one angel on the planet with fully functioning wings. "How did you find me?" Sure, he had been missing them, but he didn't think he'd been having any emotions that could lead Sam to him. Plus, he hadn't taught Sam how to do that and to his knowledge no one else had.

"It wasn't easy," Sam replied, "I had to fly to every spot on the bus route."

"But how did you even know what bus I took?" Cas asked.

"Read the attendant's mind." Sam replied.

"Who taught you to do that?" Cas responded, somewhat bewildered.

"Hael," Sam answered, "Kevin better be on his best behavior, that girl is good. Look, are you going to come back willingly or am I going to have to drag you back?"

"Neither." Cas replied, "Sam, I know you and Dean disapprove, that's why I left the way, I did, but I made my decision. Please accept it."

"But why?" Sam demanded, "And don't give me that detracting angels, crap. It hasn't been a problem so far."

"Sam, I _killed_ someone!" Cas retorted.

"You've killed _dozens_ of angels," Sam began, "That's probably not helping. But this one actually had it coming. You don't need to feel bad about it."

"It's not just-"Cas began then paused as he heard a pulsing noise, "Do you hear that?"

Sam nodded. It looked like talking Cas into coming home would have to wait.

Since they didn't know what they would be walking into they hurried as fast as they could on foot. They finally came to an abandoned factory, just as a pale van which only had windows in the front pulled up. They turned themselves invisible as three men, a woman and a teenage girl got out of the car.

They followed as the group walked inside, going deeper and deeper into the factory. "Can you narrow it down anymore, Tulip?" The oldest one in the group, a man with pale brown hair spoke up.

"I don't know," The teenager, a girl with long auburn said, squinting her eyes. One was brown while the other was green. "Maybe-that way." She pointed to the right, the side her brown eye was on.

"Let's split up just to be sure," The man who appeared to be the leader of the group, said, "Kit, you take Tulip and go right. Duke, you go left. Sean and I will go straight ahead."

"You go with Sean and the head honcho, there." Sam said, pointing the man in charge and a man in his early twenties with a young face and a brown mop-top, "I'll follow Kit and ...Tulip." Sam wondered who would name their kid that.

As Tulip and the woman, Kit, walked down the hall, she began to speak. "So, are feeling okay? You've been kind of quiet. Are you still hurt?"

"No, the last wound healed up a couple of days ago." Tulip replied.

"Then what's wrong?" Kit asked, "And don't tell me nothing. You don't have to be physic to tell something's eating at you."

"Last time we were at Jennifer's some of her guards...they said some things." Tulip replied, looking down.

"Which guards?" Kit demanded, "What did they say? Oh, they are so dead!"

"Kit, please don't," Tulip pleaded, "I don't-I don't want to cause any trouble."

Kit looked straight at her. "No one messes with our girl." She declared, "After we get done here I want to know everything."

The pair walked on for few more minutes finally coming to a room. They walked and froze in shock. So did Sam.

The room was filled from side to side with dead angels.


	43. Double Hostage Situation

**AN: Sorry I missed last week everyone. Real life got in the way. I'll promise I'll try not to let it happen again.**

Horrified, Tulip buried her head into Kit's shoulder. In turn Kit took into an embrace."It's okay." She hushed, "It's all gonna be okay."

Sam had to admit, in spite of the horrifying context, it was kind of sweet.

"Guys!" Kit called out, "We found something!" Then she turned back to Tulip. "It's okay. It's not like they were human."

A little less sweet now.

Just then the trio of men appeared, unknowingly accompanied by Castiel. "Whoa," Duke, a man with somewhat stringy dark hair gapped.

"Check for survivors." Frank ordered.

Cas walked over to Sam. "Should we make ourselves know to them?"

"No," Sam replied, "Something's not right about this. Did you learn anything?"

"Apparently this isn't the first time something like this has happened." Cas answered, "They've had other incidences like this with angels before. Also the girl, Tulip, is physic."

"And her powers are-?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure." Cas admitted, "They were vague when they were discussing it. Apparently she sensed whatever happened here." He paused for a minute, looking out on the sign, "What _did_ happen here?"

"I don't know," Sam replied, "But it's certainly not good."

Just then Kit called out, "We got a live one over here!"

The men ran over to her and pulled a female angel with a slashed face up off the floor. She moaned and limply wiggled, pulling back as Frank tried to touch her face.

"Go get her secured," He ordered, "Tulip, go with them and fix her when it's done. Me and Kit will make sure there aren't any more."

"No," The angel managed to moan as they dragged her away.

Knowing they had to act now, Sam flew across the room, talking Sean and Cas ran over to Duke and did the same. Making themselves visible once more, the angels and human became a mess on the floor.

Frank pulled out his gun out and shot at their attackers, only to have it bounce off Sam. "What the-"

"They're like her!" Tulip screamed, pointing at the female angle who was now slumped on the ground, "They're angels I can feel it!"

Sam punched out Sean and got his feet. "Look, just let us take the girl and leave, and no one has to get hurt."

"Not gonna happen." Frank said, "Sorry, but we have the numbers here."

"I just took out one of your men." Sam pointed out, "Do you really want to bank on that?"

Frank was now focused on something behind him. "I'd turn around if I were you."

He did and found Duke had Cas up on the ground, a blade from one of the dead angel's at his throat.

"Now, if you just leave with us, I promise you won't be harmed." Frank promised.

Sam didn't believe that, but he wasn't seeing another option.

Tulip ran over to Sean rousing him. "Are you okay?" She asked, "Do you need me to fix you?"

"No, little girl," Sean assured her, standing, "Up, I'm fine. You know you can't get rid of me that easily." Then he briefly hugged before going over with Kit and scooping up the female angle.

As they regrouped, Tulip wound up just inches away from Sam, giving him an idea. A horrible idea, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and things were pretty desperate right now. Before anyone could act he reached out, snatching the girl and grabbing her at the throat. Within seconds, every free hand had a gun on him. "Let her go." Kit said, her a dangerous edge to her voice.

"Let him go," Sam responded, "Let them both go, or I'll snap her neck, I'll swear."

"Sam!" Cas exclaimed in disbelief as Tulip let out a terrified mew that made Sam's heart plummeted.

"Tulip, it's going to be okay." Frank said, "He wouldn't dare."

"I think you know I would." Sam replied, trying to play the part of the calloused, deadly angel, "What's one human girl?"

Defeated, Sean dropped his hold on the female angel. "Drop the blade, Duke."

"Sean!" Duke balked, "We can't just-"

"Drop it, Duke!" Sean screamed.

"Do what he says." Frank added.

Duke let the blade drop to the floor with a _clang._

Castiel took the female angel and walked over to Sam. "Sam, were you really-" He began.

"Not now." Sam whispered harshly. Of course he had been bluffing, but they didn't need to know that.

"Okay, you got what you wanted." Frank said, "Now let the girl go."

"When I get us out of here." Sam said, weary of a potential attack. Still, he hated hearting the girl so he gently whispered in her hear, "It'll be alright. I'll let you go when I get the others to safety, I promise."

Cas put his arm in Sam's and they took off.


	44. Questions And Answers And More Questions

Dean was walking down the hall when he heard the sound of bodies hitting the floor in a rough heap, and screaming. Running towards the sound he found Sam, Castiel and two women who he didn't recognize. The older one had long cuts on her face while the other, more of a girl really, was on the floor backing away from Sam shouting, "Get away from me!"

"Tulip, it's alright," Sam urged, "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"I think it's understandable if she doesn't believe you." Cas said tersely, healing the woman.

"Ah, hey guys," Dean began, "What's going on?"

They all turned to look at the elder Winchester. "Oh, hey Dean," Sam said awkwardly, "Good news, I found Cas."

"Yeah, and apparently a couple of other people." Dean observed.

Sam looked between the female. "Right," He said, "This is-" He trailed off as he realized he didn't know the name of the older woman.

"Hannah." The woman said, "Thank you for saving me."

"No problem," Sam replied, "And this is Tulip she's apparently physic and hangs out sketchy hunters, and...really, that's all we know at this point."

Sam left Cas with the girls and took Dean until the other room and explained to him what had happened.

"They found a room of dead angels," Dean recapped, "And started combing for survivors? You sure they weren't trying to help?"

"You didn't hear the way they were talking Dean," Sam replied, "Whatever they were planning to do with Hannah, it wasn't good."

"Neither was whatever happed before they showed up," Dean commented, "So we talk to the angel-girl first then psychic-girl?"

Sam walked down the hall go get them. "Hey, Hannah, would you mind coming with me a second?"

"Alright," Hannah agreed, walking off with him.

"Sam!" Cas called out, struggling to keep hold of Tulip.

"Yeah?" Sam asked

"What about her?" Cas asked, gesturing to the girl in his arms with his chin.

"We just need to question her about her friends, then we'll cut her lose." Sam promised.

Apparently that did not reassure Tulip as she kept struggling. "What am I suppose to do until then?!" Cas called after her.

Sam walked Hannah over a chair in the main room. "Now, we know you've been through a lot today," He began, "But would mind telling us what happen to the others?"

Tears welled up in eyes.

"It's okay," He told her, "Take your time."

"Did you-"Hannah began finally, "Did you hear that noise?"

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "Cas, too. Do you-do you know what it was?"

Hannah shook her head. "It, uh, it sounded familiar." She told them, "It sounded like Heaven. It's so strange down here."

Sam handed her a tissue. Hannah looked at it like she didn't know what to do with it.

"It'll absorb the tears." Sam explained, "Just dab it on the area."

She did as he instructed as she continued. "I, uh, followed the tone and found so many of my brothers and sisters had as well. It felt safe down there, and then the doors slammed shut and a strange angel arrived. He said he worked for the new God."

Sam and Dean exchanged looks. "Let me guess," Dean said, "He was talking about Metatron."

"Hm-hmm." Hannah confirmed, "He made us an offer...join Metatron, fight for him, and those that did would one day be allowed to return to Heaven."

"Return to Heaven?" Sam asked.

"I didn't believe him, either," Hannah said, misinterupting the question, "But he said he would take us home. Some angels joined him. My friends and I refused, and, uh..." She broke down into tears again.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Sam said, sincerely.

While Hannah cried herself out, Sam and Dean conferred off to the side. "Okay, so he's a got a new door made." Dean said, "Well, we knew that was eventually going to happen."

"And he's killing off all the angels that won't join him?" Sam responded.

"You do remember all angels aren't like you, right?" Dean reminded him.

"Yes, Dean, I'm aware of that," Sam replied tersely, "There's just one more thing that's bothering me." He walked back over to female and crouched down. "Hannah, can I ask you one more thing?"

Hannah nodded.

"You said the angel was strange," Sam continued, "What does that mean?"

"Just that none of knew who he was," Hannah answered, "And he never said his name."

 _So now's he's got a mysterious enforcer,_ Sam thought, _Great. That's just great._ But he had other problems to deal with at the moment. "Hannah, do you have anywhere to go tonight?"

After some further discussion he led Hannah back down the hallway and Tulip limp in Cas' arms.

"What did you do?!" Sam demanded, running over to them.

"I had no choice Sam," Cas replied, "She bit and I was forced to render her unconscious."

"How, are we suppose to-"Sam began, "Wait, she what?"

"She bit me." Cas repeated, holding up his hand revealing deep teeth marks.

Sam just stared for a moment. "Sorry about that," He said at last, "Look, would you mind taking Hannah to the others while I and Dean get Tulip awake? You just have to walk her up there. And I need you tell the others that Heaven might not be safe. No one goes in. I'll explain later, I promise."

"Sure." Cas said, handing the girl to Sam, "Follow me."

The first thing Tulip was aware of was someone shaking her, and someone saying, "Tulip, you gotta wake up now." She must have fallen asleep in the car again. Her eyes slowly opened and she saw two men staring up at her in a grand room. Suddenly everything that happened came flooding back to her.

She jolted upright, and tried to jump off the chair, only to be pinned down by the tall angel who had taken her. "Look, we don't want to hurt you," He tried, "We just want to talk."

"Ah, Sam, maybe I should take this one," His human companion spoke up, "She might respond better to me."

The angel, Sam apparently, turned to look at him.

"Well, you did threaten to break her neck." The human pointed out.

Sam gave him an annoyed look, but conceded, walking away mumbling that he was only bluffing.

The human, pulled and sat across from. "Hey," He began, "I'm Dean, and this is my brother, Sam-"

"No, he's not," Tulip cut him off.

"He's not what?" Dean asked in spite of himself.

"He's not your brother," Tulip elaborated, "He's an angel and you're a human. You're literally two different species. You can't be brothers."

"Well, I guess that's your physic thing," Dean speculated, "Being able to tell what creatures are?"

Tulip went completely stiff.

"Look, we're not gonna do anything to you just for being physic," Dean assured her, "We just want to know why you and your friends were looking for survivors, and then you can go."

Tulip just stared back at him.

"Really, that's all you had to do." Dean insisted.

Tulip looked down and started a staring contest with her feet, shifting uncomfortable in her chair.

"Look, if you're afraid of them, we can protect you." Dean offered, wondering if the girl might be being exploited by the motley crew for abilities.

"The only who needs to be afraid them is you," Tulip seethed, gazing at Dean definitely, "When they find me they'll pin your angels to the wall like insects and make you watch with your eyelids taped opened, then feed you your own entrails!"

"Okay," Dean responded, "That was-detailed."

"Is that what Kit was gonna do with Jennifer's guards?" Sam spoke up.

Tulip bolted up in seat, "How do you know about that?"

"I can turn myself invisible remember?" Sam reminded her, "Apparently her guards said some things to you and Kit was going to kill them for it."

"Wow," Dean baked, "What exactly did they say?"

"I don't know," Sam admitted, "She never got say it."

"They said that they should be selling me, too," Tulip admitted, "Or kill me, since I'm just a physic sult."

Both men were silent for minute, shocked by the harsh words directed at a child.

"Now I kinda want to kill them." Dean commented.

"Look, how 'bout a compromise?" Sam suggested, "Why don't you just tell us who Jennifer is?" He knew they were planning on taking Hannah to this Jennifer woman, so she was the key to whatever was going on anyway.

"Or you could let me go and we'd let you keep the angels."Tulip counter.

Dean and Sam went off to the side. "Okay, this clearly isn't working," Dean said, "Can't you just-read her mind or something?"

"I haven't had much practice at that, but I guess it's worth a shot." Sam said, and then looked over to the girl. After a moment she said, "Okay, all I'm getting is her trying to come up with an escape plan."

"Look, I know that she's just a kid, and possibly a victim, but maybe it's time to pull out the more-intense methods." Dean suggested.

"Dude, she's not a demon or a monster or even killer." Sam protested, "She's just a kid whose level of involvement we don't even know."

"Well, we don't have to actually _use_ any of it." Dean said, "Let's just show a couple of them to her and ah-scare it out of her."

"She is already plenty scared," Sam argued, "If that would've worked she'd be spilling her guts right now."

While they were arguing them didn't notice Tulip shielding off the chair, towards the stairs. She stared at it, trying to figuring out the quietest way to get up and then just decide to run for it.

Hearing her, they ran after her. She was just about to put her hand on the doorknob when she felt herself being lifted up in the air. "No!" She screamed, trashing against her captor again, "No, no! Let me go!" Then she left a finger on her temple, and before she knew what was happening she blacked out.

"Well, that's just great." Dean snarked, "Now we're right back where we started."

"Look, let's just -sash her somewhere until we can think of another strategy." Sam suggested.

When Tulip woke up this time she was surprised to find herself lying on top of a bed, in a plain room. She looked around for her captors and found she was alone with a shut door. She stood up and ran over to it, but found it was lock. "Hey!" She shouted, banging on the door, "Hey, open up! Let me out of here!" She kept screaming, and screaming until her voice was gone, but no one responded. Eventually, she just fell to the ground, in tears.

A few minutes after she cried herself out, she heard footsteps down the hallway. She raised her head, wondering who it was and what was going to happen? Was it Dean? One of the angels? Were they finally going to kill her? Or worst, torture her for the information they wanted?

Tulip crawled backwards on the floor as the door open, only to find it cracked open just enough for a hand to reached through, holding an unopened bottle of water. "After all that screaming, I thought you might be thirsty." A strange female voice said.

Tulip just stared at it, wondering what this person's angle was, and who was she to this group. Then she got an idea. She reached for the water and grabbed the woman's wrist, trying to pull her inside. But the woman fought back, pulling away and getting free of Tulip's grip, thought not without getting starched.

The door opened and an older with cropped black hair brush in, quickly blocking the exit. "Now, see here, young lady," She began, in a tone similar to the one Kit used when Tulip really messed up, "I get that we're not your favorite people in the world, but when someone tries to help you, you should at least appreciate it not to attack them, at least when they're not trying to do you any harm. Would you do any of your angels -snatching friends like that?!"

Tulip had a comeback ready about how they never locked her up, but for some reason could not bring herself to use it, instead then just shaking her head.

"That's what I thought," The woman continued, "It's not my fault you're in this situation, you know!"

"I know." Tulip admitted quietly, "I'm sorry." Then she positioned herself until a kneeling position and reached for the hand she had scratched.

Tulip closed her eyes and focused, and soon, she felt stinging on the hands. When she opened them, the scratches were gone from the woman's hand and onto her.

"How did you-" The woman began, "Is that your-physic ability?"

Tulip figured that it wouldn't help her captors in simply confirming that, she nodded.

"I'm kind of new to this world, but I've never heard of that one before." The woman commented.

"Frank says I'm one in a million," Tulip replied bashfully.

The woman sat down next to her. "Tell me about them," She requested, "You don't have to tell me about what you're doing to the angels, but if you just want to talk about-you know, them and your life, you can."

Two later, Dean and Sam was in the kitchen still arguing about what to do with their "guest" when footsteps came from down the hall. A few seconds later, Linda appeared in the doorway, looking like she had something to say, so they both turned to look at her.

"Jennifer's a woman who runs an operation selling monsters as exotic pets." She began bluntly, "Tulip's 'family' sometimes sell the creatures they manage to capture alive. Oh, and Tulip's named for a graphic novel character."


	45. Luck Of The Draw

"Excuse me?" Dean said.

"Tulip O'Hare," Linda elaborated, "From some graphic novel series called _Preacher._ Apparently Sean's a fan."

"No, not that," Dean said, "How did you learn all that?"

"I know you wanted everyone to let you handle the situation with the girl," Linda began, "But she was screaming her lungs out for _thirty minutes._ I wanted to make sure she was okay, so I brought her some water. Then she tried to attack me-"

"She what?!" Sam exclaimed.

"Don't worry, it wasn't much of one, I very easily fended her off," Linda assured, "Anyway, I read her the riot act, and she felt so bad afterwards she fixed where she starched me."

"Fixed it?" Dean asked.

"Apparently she has an extremely rare physic ability that involves healing others by taking on their wounds." Linda replied, "Now are you going to let me finish or not?"

After Linda finished her story. She explained that apparently a few years ago during her "family's" travels, they had met a woman named Jennifer Mullins, who ran an operation that sole supernatural creatures to poeople with way too much money, pulse the odd witch or even scientist. If they managed to spare a monster on a hunt, they would send it her way for an inoradinate amount of money. Apparently she had a similar arrangement with numerous hunters across the country. When she was finished they went to the room they had stashed Tulip in. When they opened the door, she stood up from where she had been sitting on the bed.

"It's alright; we come in peace," Sam said, his arms out in front of him, "And look who we brought with us?"

Linda stepped through the doorway.

"You told, didn't you?" Tulip accused her feeling of betrayal clear in her voice.

"It was a monster trafficking ring," Linda responded, "How could I keep that to myself?"

"But a deal's a deal," Sam said, "If you want I can take you back to the others, or at least where you left them."

"That is, if you actually wanna go back." Dean cut in, "It just sounds like they're exploiting you to me. You be killed when they have you heal them."

"They wouldn't let me heal them if it was that bad." Tulip said, "Even if I wanted to. And I would."

"Okay," Sam relented, "If you're sure-"

"I'm sure." Tulip said, taking his arm.

Sam teleported them to a spot near the building where they had found the angels, then put a hand to her forehead and catching her before she hit the ground. "I'm sorry, Tulip," He said, "But it has to be this way."

Tulip woke up on a bench with no idea how she got there, or where anyone was. Frantic and confused, her head went every which way until she spotted a cell phone by her with a note reading, _"Call home."_ She dialed a number into it and waited for answer. "Yeah," Sean said, sounding stressed.

"S-Sean..."Tulip began, her voice shaking.

"Tulip!" He exclaimed, "Where are you? Did that bastard hurt you?"

"I-I don't know," Tulip stammered, "I don't remember what happened after we took off to that building I told you about."

"Damn bastard wiped your memory." Sean groaned, "Look, just tell describe where you are and we'll find you."

Sam watched, invisible, until the hunters found the girl. Once he was satisfied Tulip was relatively safe, he teleported back to the bunker.

He had a lot to deal with.

"You want to what?!" Dean exclaimed upon hearing his brother's plan.

"Go undercover in Jennifer's organization." Sam repeated.

"Okay, ah, why?" Dean asked.

"You know we can't let that go on." Sam replied, "Either her buyers are using these monsters for something dangerous, or they have no clue what they're getting into and are creating a danger to themselves and others, plus, how many are like Hannah and haven't hurt anyone?"

"Who would've thought becoming an angel would turn you soft?" Dean grumbled, "We don't know for sure she's an innocent, we've only just met her. For all we know she could've been one of the angels that took out Sodom and Gomorrah, or would've killed Baum, but left the donkey alone."

"Then at least she's an animal lover!" Sam retorted, "Look that last one might be a major concern, but my other two points still stand."

"Well, we have to find her first." Dean replied, "Tulip didn't exactly give us her exact location."

"She gave us part of a location." Sam argued, "Upstate New York. And I put a tracker on her before I left her on that bench. Next time they bring something to her, we'll know."

"And if they find the tracker before then?" Dean questioned.

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." Sam reasoned.

"Okay, then, why you?" Dean demanded, "Why do you have to be the one to put yourself as risk, especially when there are thousands of angels who can do the job?!"

"Because I can't ask them to do something like this!" Sam argued, "Not if I wouldn't do it myself."

"You don't owe them anything." Dean seethed.

"Yeah, Dean, I do," Sam replied, "That comes with the territory of leading them which was your idea by the way."

"I never said to-" Dean began before Linda walked between the two of them, her hands raised to silence them.

"Okay boys," She said, "Here's what we're gonna do."

They gathered the core angels plus their new comer in a small circle in the bunker, Linda stood in front of them with two handfuls of cut straws.

"I don't know what you've all heard," Sam began, "But we recently learned of an underground creature trafficking ring. We want to send in two angels undercover as potential mercindise with Dean going undercover as hunter looking to sell. We decided there was only one fair way to decide who should go. By random drawing. I'm not gonna lie, there are about a million ways this could go sideways so if anyone wants to back out, they can do it now. No one will think any less of you."

No one said a word.

Dean had to admit, it was pretty smart idea. Everyone got an even chance and it prevented Dean from protesting if Sam or Cas was chosen, as Hagar had baby at home and Kevin's relationship with Hael was the worst-kept secret in the bunker (at least among the humans. Most of the angels going in and out has not observed the pair enough nor had the intuition to pick up on what was going on.) His love ones weren't the only ones at risk.

Linda handed a straw to the angel at the end of the line and everyone looked around to see who had the short straws.

It was Castiel and Hael.


	46. Little Shop of Horrors

When Kevin returned to his room, he found a certain dark-haired angel waiting, her back to him. "Hael?" He questioned.

Hael turned at the mention of her name. "They found the location." She told her boyfriend solemnly.

"I know," Kevin replied, walking towards her.

They met in the middle. "Remember what you told me the night we confessed out feelings for each other?" Hael asked.

"You'll have to be more specific." Kevin replied, "We said a lot to each other that night."

"That if anything happened to you, you'd want me to find a full, happy life." Hael reminded him, "That's what I want for you, too. If something goes wrong on this mission-"

"No." Kevin cut her off, "I know what you're about to say and don't. Nothing is going to happen to you. You are not dying, or getting locked up in some rich nut job's private zoo. We won't let it, okay?"

"Okay." Hael said, before leaning in for one last kiss before she reported to the others. When their lips parted she whispered, "Goodbye, my love."

"What did I just say?" Kevin responded, "This isn't goodbye. It's just see you later."

When they walked into the main room, the Winchesters and Castiel were waiting for her. "You ready?" Dean asked.

"As much I can ever be." Hael said, walking over to Sam and taking his arm.

After teleporting to a motel the meeting place to make preparations. These were mainly putting warded cuffs on the angels; gagging them and making it appear like they were actually prisoners in general.

"This is going to be a little tight." Dean warned her as he helped her in the trunk.

While she knew that the boys wouldn't actually hurt them Hael felt a tremor of fear as the hood went down on the warded trunk engulfing her and Cas in darkness. She felt a hand wrap around hers and give it a reassuring squeeze, as if to tell her, _I'm here, you're not alone, and it's all gonna be alright._

Five minutes later Dean drove up to the front of what looked like an old studio of some short. He walked up to the front door, knocked twice, then paused, then knock again.

Suddenly a metal slide on the door slid back, and a gruff voice asked, "Who is it?"

"Dean Winchester." He answered, hoping to rely on their reputation to get him in, "I, ah, heard there was a woman here who would be interested in what I got in my trunk."

"And how do you know about this?" The man on the other side of the door demanded.

"I heard about from some other hunters who do business with her regularly." Dean replied, "There was about four of them and they had this kid physic tagging along with them, I think her name was Tulip?"

"Sounds familiar," The man on the other side admitted, "Wait here."

Dean waited by the door, alone with his thoughts. He was still very anxious in regards to this plan. There was so much that could go wrong. What if they discovered the trackers on them? What if they couldn't get in or they couldn't break out? Or both? Horrible imagines crossed his mind of angels languishing in cold metal cages, or worst, strapped to operating tables, being vivisected. He was seconds away from going back to the car and calling the whole thing off, when the door opened revealing a large, burly guard standing next to glamorous looking woman in a black dress.

"Mr. Winchester." She began, smiling, "Let's see what you got, then we can talk."

Jennifer summoned two guards to gather Hael and Cas from the back of the tuck, who did a good show of trying to protest and struggle.

"Angels?" Jennifer guessed, looking at the warding.

Dean nodded. "Found them after a couple humans got caught in the middle of one of their battles."

"What did they do, possess a pair of siblings?" Jennifer asked, noticing that they both had black hair blue eyes, and pale skin.

"Anyone related to you?" Dean asked, as she too had those features her dark hair cut in a short neat bob.

"Very funny," Jennifer said, looking at the angels with an appraising eye that made them both uncomfortable. She then turned back to her men, and ordered, "Take them for examination."

"Examination?" Dean asked, trying to hide his alarm, "What does that mean?"

"Just making sure they're in good shape." Jennifer replied, "Things like that can affect the price I can get, and the price I give you. Speaking of which, would you mind stepping into my office a few minutes."

If Jenifer's office was any indication, she liked showing off her wealth, but in a tasteful way. On the floor was a red oriental rug with gold fringe, red velvet drapes over the window, a Louis XIV chair in the corner, and in the center of the room, a mahogany secretary. She walked over to it, as Dean sat down in the chair, as she poured brown liquid from a cut-crystal decanter. "Would you like a drink?" She offered.

"Well, since you already poured it." Dean replied, accepting it.

Jenifer turned around and poured herself a glass.

"So, all this comes for selling monsters?" Dean asked, looking around.

"When the buyers are bored people with more money than God." Jennifer replied, before taking a sip of her drink, "So, tell me how you known Frank Johnson and his motley crew?"

"Who?" Dean replied, pausing for a moment.

"You mentioned a physic named Tulip." Jennifer replied, "The only physic named Tulip I know runs with Frank's bunch. The only Tulip I know in general, actually."

"Oh, _that_ Frank Johnson." Dean said, trying to recover, "I ran into them on a hunt a few months and noticed they were oddly flushed with cash. I asked why and they told me about you."

"Months?" Jennifer repeated, "What took you so long to contact me?"

"Frank didn't give me an exact location." Dean lied, fearing he might have been discovered, "It took me a bit to find you. Then I didn't have anything to sell into now."

"Oh," Jennifer said, taking a sip of her drink, "I see."

Seeing that she seemed to believe him, Dean, feeling a bit emboldened, said, "You know, I gotta ask, why put an operation like this together? I mean, most people discover the supernatural think, gee, I could sell these things for a butt load of money."

Jennifer smiled. "That's a question I don't get a lot, believe it or not."

"I'm just a curious kind of guy," Dean replied, "So?"

Just then there was knock on the door.

"That'll be the reports on your angels." Jennifer said, getting up and going to the door. She opened it and stepped out.

Seizing the opportunity, Dean stood up and hurried over to the desk. He started pulling open desk, looking for anything that could help them. In the bottom desk, he found a large black binder. He reached down to take it out when the door started to open. He slammed it shut and ran back to the chair, sitting down before she entered. As he walked in he stood up. "So?"

"I'll give a thousand for the female." Jennifer offered, "But there are some issues with the male."

"Issues?" Dean said, feeling a flicker of panic, "What issues?" Was something wrong with Cas that the angel kept to himself?

"There's some issue with his grace." Jennifer explained, "Basically, it's the angel equivalent of the soul, if you didn't already know. They're not sure exactly what's going on, but apparently it's almost like it's...fading."

"Fading?" Dean responded, all sorts of alarm bells going off in his head, "What does that mean?"

"We honestly don't know." Jennifer admitted, "Look, I don't think you were trying to cheat me, but I also have no clue if I can sell him. I'll give three hundred."

"That seems a like a lot for something you can't even sell." Dean reasoned, "Why don't I just take that one back and -" He made a gun with his fingers and silently fired, "Take care of it."

"At the very least I think I could have some fun with him." Jennifer smiled slyly, "So, do we have a deal?"

Suddenly Dean couldn't respond. It felt like his mouth was sown shut and he could feel the ocean in his ears. It was too late to back out now, at least not and get his friends back to safety, but he couldn't just leave them there, especially with what Jennifer just told him about Cas.

"Mr. Winchester?" Jennifer asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Dean said, finding his voice again, "Yeah, I'm fine. And yeah, yeah, we have a deal."

Jennifer reached out and they shook hands.

Castiel was staring at the camera in the examination room. It wasn't bad enough that they had been stripped, poked, prodded and had samples taken, but they had to record the whole thing, being watched by unseen forces?

His eyes then glanced over to Hael, who was sitting on the edge of the cold metal slab, shaking and dishliveled. If it had been bad for him, it had been much worse for her. In addition to humiliation of the examination, one of the guards had started making lewd comments. Thankfully the doctors had been disgusted enough to make them go outside.

Still, Cas had never wanted to kill a human being more in his life, than he wanted to kill that man.

"Are you alright?" He asked her in a voice that was barely a whisper.

"Yeah." She lied, but there was a tear rolling down her cheek.

Cas reached out and put a hand on top of hers. "It'll be alright." He tried, though right now he had having trouble believing it himself, "We'll get out, or the others will come for us, or both. And I'll protect you until then."

Before she could refute him the door opened and the guards step in, one of them grabbing the chains that held them. "Come on." He ordered.

The two angels stood up, and allowed themselves to be lead from the room.

They lead them down the seemingly endless cold, barren hallway, then turned into another, than another and still another. It seemed as if the maze would never end. Then they came to a heavy metal door at the end of the hallway. The guard not holding the chains removed his glove and put his hand on the scanner. The door swung about, revealing a dimly lit room, the walls lined with cages.

As they walked down the hall, a vampire lunged in his cage, which cracked with electricity, causing the creature sluck back into the darkness of his prison. As they walked back the various cages, other creatures snarled and scratched at them. Others cowered. A couple were even curled up in the corner of their cells, crying.

At last the stopped in front of an empty cage, covered in echionian. The guard who had opened the door unlocked it, and they found themselves being tossed inside. The guard who had been leaving them removed the cuffs, but the cell was shut so fast they didn't even have time to think of running.

Not that they could do that much in way of escape. They could feel it the moment they entered the cage. There was over a dozen different types of warding, keeping them from flying even if they had working wings, zapping them of them strength, forcing their grace to shrink.

"There's no way out." Hael gasped.

"It's all up Sam and-"Cas began, before falling to the floor.


	47. Bad To Worst

"Cas!" Hael screamed, kneeling down at his side and shaking, "Cas, what happened?! What's wrong!" She looked around and called out, "Help! I need some help in here!"

"You're wasting, your breath, sweet heart," A voice called out from one of the cages, "It's gotta be a real emergency for them come in here!"

"They're about to lose some of their livestock!" Hael shouted, "I'd think that was something they'd consider a problem!" Turning her friend over, she pleaded, "Stay with me, Cas, please stay with me."

The doors opened and two guards walked down the hall to the angel cage. Their eyes widened when they saw the pair on the floor. "What the Hell?" One guard even exclaimed.

"Must be from different tribes or whatever." The other guard groaned, unlocking the cage. He lunged at Hael with a black and silver stick, causing the angel to jump back in pain as she felt a blot of electricity charge through her.

One of them picked her up forced her to her feet, demanding, "What the Hell did you do to him?!"

"Nothing." Hael seethed, "He collapsed after you put us in. Please, you have to help him."

The other guard got Cas under his arms and began to drag him out of the cage. "Ah, this one heavier than he looks." He groaned, "A little help in here!"

The door opened again and a third guard, a woman, ran into the room, picking up Cas' legs and carried him out of the cage. The other guard let go of Hael, throwing her back into the cage and quickly stepped out, locking the door. She could only watch as they carried her friend out of the door and shut the door with that slow, horrifying _clang._

The moment Castiel was taken from the room; he slowly started to regain consciousness. His head was pounding and his eyes felt like rocks, but he was aware of the fact that he was moving, or rather, being moved. His eyes slowly opened, and he could see a man and a woman carrying him.

"What the-" He began, "What's going on? Where's Hael?"

"Back in the kennels." The woman answered, "You had some sort of accident."

There was the sound of the door opening, and Cas could see the white ceiling of the examination room again.

"Didn't I already look at this one?" A voice he recognized as one of the doctors, Dr. Beckett, asked.

"Something happened after we put in the cages." The male guard explained as he was set back on the examining table, "He just-collapsed."

Feeling his strength returning, Castiel sat up and saw Dr. Beckett, an older man with what Cas believed was called salt and pepper hair, was looking at chart. "If I remember right, this was the one with grace issue." He commented, his eyes never leaving the chart.

"You go through so many angels _that_ doesn't stand out to you?" Cas challenged.

Dr. Beckett turned to look at him, then back in the chart. "Well, I've seen so many angels lately." He explained, "Use to be we'd only get one, maybe two a year if we were lucky, but lately...they call tend to blend together after a while."

Cas heart sunk. He knew the most likely reason for the sudden increase in angels.

"We really owe whoever the caused the fall." Dr. Beckett commented, not looking up from the chart.

Suddenly Castiel felt sick. Surely, deeply sick, like he was going to throw up.

"Hey, guys," The female angel spoke up, "I think he's gonna-"

Suddenly a thick burning liquid forced his way up Cas' throat, forcing him to open his mouth and deposit it on the floor.

"I'll get a mop." A male guard groaned, walking out of the room.

Dr. Beckett looked at the mess on the floor, then to the remaining guards, then finally to Cas. "Well," The doctor said, "I suppose it wouldn't to look him over again."

By the time the male guard arrived back with a custodian, Dr. Beckett had finished his examination.  
"He's fine now," He was saying, "But I would recommend finding some alternate holding arrangements, less harsh wardings.

"That won't be necessary." The other male guard said, walking up to Cas with a set of warding chains.

After securing him, the guards led Cas down the hall. They made a turn and the angel realized something important. "This isn't the way back to the cells."

One of the male guards scoffed. "We gotta a real genius on our hand with this one."

"Boss wanted us to take you to her office." The other male guard said, "That's why were there in the first place."

"Why?" Cas demanded.

"How the Hell should I know?" The guard snapped back.

They came to the hand of the hall where the female knocked on the door. "Ms. Mullins," She called out, "We have him for you."

"Come in." Jennifer called out casually.

The free walked in, Cas trailing behind them.

"It takes three of you to bring me one weakened angel?" Jennifer question.

"There was in incident, ma'am." The female guard continued to explained, "He collapsed in the cage. He appears to be fine now, though."

"Good." Jennifer replied, "Sit him there." As she spoke she gestured to fancy chair in the middle of the room.

The guards did as they were told, then left the room, shutting the door behind them.

Cas, looked up as his capture, trying to hide his fear. "Why did you bring me here?" He demeaned.

"I'll get to that." Jennifer replied, "But I thought we could start with something simple, like names. Mine's Jennifer."

The angel briefly considered lying, but in the end said, "Castiel."

Jennifer's eyes widened in intrigued surprised. "Well, well, well," She said, "Looks like I have a celebrity in my office."

Suddenly he regretted telling the truth. "You know who I am?"

"I've heard whispers." Jennifer replied, beginning to saunter towards him, "From the angels who had pasted through here."

"The angels you've sold to highest bidder?" Cas summarized bitterly.

"Yes." Jennifer confirmed, "Though I'm making an exception for you."

"Why?" Cas asked, then repeated the question, "Why did you have them bring me here?"

"Because," Jennifer began, now leaning over Cas, "While with your grace the way it is you're in no condition to sell, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things I can do with you." She leaned her lips towards him.

"No!" Cas protested, pushing back as far as he could in the chair, trying to fight her off. Suddenly he felt a sharp sting across the cheek.

"You ungrateful little wretch!" Jennifer shouted, "Do you even know what I'm offering you here?! I don't know if you noticed, but it's a dangerous place out there especially for you!"

"And this is the better option?" Cas retorted.

"Do _not_ interrupt me when I am talking!" Jennifer shouted, slapping the angel again, "Don't think that because I like you I will tolerate disrespect because next time I will not be so lenient." And then she turned around, and walked from the room, locking the door behind her, leaving her captive to await whatever happened next.


	48. Bittersweet Escape

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean were a block away, in the Impala, watching to enact their rescue plan.

"Are the trackers working?" Dean asked, peering over the computer.

"Yeah." Sam said pointing at two dots on the screen, "It's looks like they're being moved."

"Move?" Dean asked, panic going through him, "Moved where?"

"Hopefully where the other monsters are being kept." Sam replied calmly.

 _I can't believe I let them talk me into this._ Dean thought. Out loud he said, "Sam, when this Jennifer chick was talking to me about- "The next words left a foul taste in his mouth, "payment, she told me her doctors found something wrong with Cas."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Something about his Grace." Dean answered, "They're not sure what? She said she might not be sellable. What if they decide to kill him?"

"We won't let that happen." Sam assured him, "We'll get them both out before that can happen. As long as that tracker's going, we can find them."

 _But what will we find?_ Dean thought.

Just then one of the dots started to moving again. _I might have spoken to soon._

"What?" Dean spoke up, seeing Sam's face fall, "What's wrong? What's happening?"

"Okay, don't panic." Sam cautioned, "But it looks like some of them is being moved."

"What do you mean moved?" Dean demanded, the whole top half of his body leaning over the computer, almost pushing Sam to the side, "Which one?"

"I don't know!" Sam admitted, "We didn't label them!"

"Well, that was mistake!" Dean exclaimed, in full panic mode now. Was their friend being lead to his death as they watched helplessly? Or worst, to a life in bondage?

Suddenly the dot froze again. "We need to go in." Dean ordered, " _Now._ "

"Dean, we'd basically be flying blind- "Sam began.

"Something is happening and it's happening now." Dean cut him off, "If we're going to get them out, we need to do it now."

"Alright." Sam relented, grabbing Dean's wrist and taking off.

As the Winchesters were planning their attack Cas was alone in Jennifer's office struggling to get out of his chains before she returned, or someone else entered.

Brute strength not working, Cas forced himself from the chair and threw himself against the desk, looking for something he could use to pick the lock. Crapping his hand around the marble handle of a letter opener, he put the tip in the keyhole, feeling a prick on his skin.

He worked at picking the lock, to no avail. Hearing the door open, he froze, letting the letter opener fall to the desk. Suddenly he couldn't move, even to turn around and see who had entered the room.

"It's alright." Jennifer's voice said behind him, "It's just me."

 _That's not very reassuring._ Cas thought, turning around.

He saw Jennifer standing there holding a white box with roses painted on its broad sides. He felt a flicker of fear at the thought of what might be in the box, when her face contorted into a confusing remorseful look. "I'm so sorry I did that you." Jennifer said, then gestured to the chair, "Come here."

Seeing no other option, Cas walked over as best he could in his state, practically falling into the chair. Jennifer walked over and knelt down, putting the box on the floor, before giving an appraising eye to the chains. "If I take these off of you, will you try to run?"

"Like I would make it out." Cas retorted.

Jennifer responded by pulling out a key, and inserting it into the lock of the right shackle. She repeated the process and the chains fell to the floor. She pushed them aside and opened the box, revealing serval smaller boxes of women's make-up.

 _What is happening here?_ Cas wondered to himself.

Jennifer pulled out a jar of creamy-colored liquid and white sponge. She poured some out into the sponge and reached towards Castile, who pulled back. "It's okay." She said in a hushed voice, "I'm not going to hurt you again. I'm just gonna clean you up a bit."

Cas went slack, allowing her to apply the substance, to his check, swirling the sponge around before coming back for a little more.

"I use to have to do this all the time." Jennifer said, as she continued her work, "Back when I was married."

"You're wearing make-up right now." Cas pointed out, misunderstanding what she meant.

A flash of rage crossed Jennifer's face, but this time she quickly got control of herself this time. "I meant covering up bruises."

Suddenly it came together for the angel. "Your husband was abusive?"

Jennifer nodded. "Good ol' Eddy Drummond. Heir to an oil fortune. Meet him in a bar when I was twenty. Wooed me, got the ring of my finger, then revealed his massive drinking problem. And he was very angry drunk."

"But you left him." Cas whispered.

"I never said that." Jennifer replied.

"But you used the words 'was married' as in past-tensed." Cas argued.

"That doesn't necessarily mean divorce." Jennifer said, smiling slyly, "It could also mean death."

Just when Cas thought he couldn't be any more shocked, confused or terrified, he found himself surprised. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because maybe if we got to know each other you might fill a bit more comfortable with the situation." Jennifer explained, "And it's not like you're ever going to be in a position to tell anyone." She then pulled the sponge back from his face, "There you, go, much better." She pulled a compact out and handed it to him. "See?"

Cas opened the compact, trying to stay on her good side for a moment. He hadn't seen his face after the attack, but he assumed there must have been some sort of welt on it. A welt that was now hidden. "Thank you." He said softly, playing along for now.

Jennifer then reclaimed the compact and started to pack up the cosmetics. "You know, Castiel," She began, "This can be a completely symbiotic relationship. "She stood up, walking towards the desk, "You spend the remainder of your life in relative comfort," She sat the case on the desk, "And I get some pleasure. Everybody wins."

"What about Hael?" Cas countered.

"Who?" Jennifer asked, turning around to face him.

"My friend, who's still in your dungeon." Cas replied.

"That should be easy." Jennifer said, turning and walking behind her desk, "I can arrange a private sell." She took out a box and begin to riffle through the cards in it, her finger landed on one, "A magician-scientist-magical-artifact-collector with an extensive private zoo. Except he doesn't have an angel yet." She pulled out the card, "So he won't want to lose one when he gets it. She'll be protected and want for nothing."

"That is expectable." Cas lied. Setting up this sale would probably take time. Stall until they could find a way out or Sam and Dean could save them.

"Alright then." Jennifer said, "I'll have to make a few calls to get in contact with him, but she should be out of the cage by the end of the week." Then she sauntered back over Cas leaning over him, "Now, I think I deserve some kind of thank you."

As she leaned closer Cas closed his eyes, trying to will himself somewhere else, anywhere but there, at least in his mind, where there was a commotion from outside. "Will you excuse me for one second?"

She opened the door, and saw some sort of battle going on within the halls of her establishment. "What the Hell is going on?!" She demanded.

"We're under attack!" A guard explained, "Someone got in, let the creatures out! They've gone full-on Spartacus on us!"

Jennifer grabbed someone's extra side-arm and began to fire, making her way down the hall.

Cas stood up and walked over to the door, putting his hand on the doorknob when he heard the sound of wings flapping, causing him to turn around.

He had never been happier to see Sam Winchester then he was at this moment.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked.

"I think so." Cas answered, "What about Heal?"

"She's find, Dean's getting her out." Sam replied.

Meanwhile, Dean was leading Hael through the chaos, looking for Jennifer at the same time. They hadn't exactly decided what they were going to do with the woman when they found her, but they had to cut off the head of snake. And Jennifer was most certainly the head."

"I should have known you had something to do with this." Jennifer's voice said behind them.

They turned around to see Jennifer, a gun in her right hand, aimed at them.

"There you are." Dean said, leveling his gun at her, "Look, just come quietly, and we'll clean up your mess."

"Actually," Jennifer replied, "I think you're going to let me go."

Dean scoffed. "Look around, lady," He said, "Your empire's falling to pieces around you."

"But I still have leverage." Jennifer seethed, "I still have one of your friends at my mercy."

"My brother's getting him as we speak." Dean informed her.

Jennifer paused for a moment, her eye glancing in every direction. Then she suddenly reached out with one hand, chanting a spell Dean had never heard before. He wasn't even sure what language it was. Suddenly Hael was flung into Jennifer's arm, the woman grabbing the blade the angel had been given and held it to her neck. "Here's how this is gonna work." Jennifer said, circling Dean who had frozen in his place, "You're going to walk out of here, or she dies."

Dean kept his gun trained on her, but did not try to stop her as she backed away with a struggling Hael.

Jennifer dragged the female angel through the chaos to a back entrance where there was a series of large back vans. She opened one, revealing warding covering the inside. "Get in." She ordered.

"No." Hael refused, "You can kill her right here."

"Who said anything about killing you?" Jennifer replied, before shoving her hostage inside and shutting the doors before the poor girl to could react. She then got into the driver's side, and drove off, pulling out her cellphone and hitting a number on the contacts before putting it up to her ear. "Magnus, it's Jennifer." She said, "I have something for you." 


	49. The Collector

Dean circled the man tied to the chair while Muriel stood off to the side. "Look," Dean said," I've been going through guard after guard and you know what? I don't think you're a bag guy. Sure, you work for a lady who's absolutely nuts but I think you're just a regular guy trying to make a living," He pulled out the man's wallet, revealing s picture of a woman and a little boy, "support the wife and kid."

"They don't know anything about this." The man pleaded, "My wife thinks I work at an antique auctions house. Please don't hurt them."

"Relax." Dean cut him off," No one's hurting them. The point is, you can't be completely happy with what's going on here. And that kid angel your boss took off with? She has friends, family, Hell, she's even got a boyfriend. People who care about her, are worried about her. And you have the power to ease their suffering, _you_ have the power to help us get her back."

The guard shook his head. "I don't, I really don't." He said regretfully, "Look, I have no clue where Ms. Mullins would have taken your girl. All deals with Magnus were handled by her personally and her most trusted guards, which were not me I'm sorry."

Dean looked at Muriel.

"He's telling the truth." Muriel confirmed.

Frustrated, Dean walked out of the room and leaned up against the wall, rubbing his face in his hands. Seeing his friend's distress, Castiel waked over to him, "Still nothing?"

"Less than nothing." Dean lamented, "Apparently this guy was such a good customer that this Mullins bitch went to great length to keep his amenity. We still got nothing." 

"So, the only hope we have is Sam's lead panning out." Cas responded.

"Assuming Kevin doesn't kill him." Dean said.

"It's true, I do not envy Sam's duty." Cas admitted.

Sam's unfortunate duty was informing Kevin his girlfriend was missing. Understandably, the Prophet did not take it well, taking a swing at Sam.

"She trusted you!" Kevin exclaimed, "She trusted you and now she's God only knows where going through God only knows what!"

"Kevin, I know." Sam replied, "I know, but we are doing everything in our power to find her. I already have a lead."

"What?" Kevin asked urgently, "What is it?"

"Jennifer was planning on selling Hael to someone named Magnus." Sam explained, "Albert Magnus was the name the Men of Letters used when they wanted to be incognito."

Kevin turned from Sam and let out an angry scoff. "Great, that's just great." He seethed, before whirling around on Sam, "We know all the Men of Letters are dead, Sam!"

"Do we? Sam countered.

Later Kevin and Sam made their way to a clearing in the woods on which sat a plain, but well-built cabin. They walked up to the door and Sam knocked on it. "Crowley." He called out, "Crowley, are you here?!"

The door opened, revealing the ex-king of Hell with wild eyes, beard stubble, dressed in homespun clothes unevenly died with black ink. "Sam!" He beamed a bit too joyfully, "Kevin! Come in, come in!" As he ushered them inside he asked, "To what do I owe the pleasure? You just checked in a few days ago."

"Something's come up and we need to ask you some questions about it." Sam began, trying to appear confident. He wasn't sure how good Crowley would be to them in his state, but right now it was the bet they got.

"Certainly." Crowley replied, going to the other side of a smooth wooden table in the center of the room, handing a plate of unappetizing lumps to his visitors, "Lemon corn mill cookies, minus the lemon?"

"Ah, no thank you." Sam replied, gently pushing the plate away, "What do you know about the Men of Letters massacre of 1958? We know Abaddon missed our grandfather and Larry Gahem. Was there anybody else?"

"I'm sorry to say, no." Crowley answered.

Sam's head fell and Kevin felt and looked like was going to puke.

"I wasn't finished." Crowley said, "Let me finish before you get all-dejected. Rumor has it that a rouge member was tossed out on his arse. Therefore, he wouldn't have been there that night, so if anyone's still alive, it would be him. If whatever got him expelled didn't kill him. Or he hasn't died of old age. However, I don't know how you would find him. He wouldn't be in the active membership. I don't know his name, but I tried to find him back in my demon days. I thought he might be my way into that bunker of yours. Unfortunately, I never did find him, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help."

"Maybe you can." Sam said, "Where did you look?"

Meanwhile, Jennifer was standing in the hallway of a beautiful mansion, holding a drugged Hael by the arm. "Magnus!" She called out, "Magnus, where are you?"

"Right here." A voice called, and a man dressed in a dark suit and brightly colored bowtie came into view.

"So, this is where you live." Jennifer commented, "I always sort of wondered. Thanks for accommodating me, by the way."

"No trouble at all." Magnus said, meeting them. He put a hand under Hael's chin, raising her head as he continued, "Not foe a specimen like this." He sat at leather briefcase at Jennifer's feet, "It's all there."

Jennifer cracked open the case, then satisfied all the money was there, closed it. "The sedative should wear off in about 30 minutes," She said, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you as always."

"What will you do now?" Magnus asked.

"Get out of the country for a while." Jennifer said, "Maybe get set up somewhere else, or maybe I'll just retire."

"Either way, I'd advise staying away from Brittan." Magnus urged, "If things are anything like I remember our branch there was more than a little…extreme. And coming from yours truly that is saying something."

"Thanks for the tip." Jennifer replied, looking around, "Ah, how do I get out of here?"

Magnus collected Hael, standing her on the wall beside him. Then he took a vail of green powder, pouring it in hand before blowing it at Jennifer and saying, " _Abi, ab oculkis meis!"_

Jennifer disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Once she was gone Magnus turned back to the angel. "Now, my dear, "He said, taking her by the arm, "Let's get you settled in."

Meanwhile, back at the bunker, Kevin and Sam had found a file box that could lend a clue to their mysterious collector. " _Infamati et obliterati."_ Kevin read.

"Dishonored and forgotten." Sam translated.

Sam went and got Dean and the trio began pouring over the files to figure out exactly who they were dealing with.

"Wow." Dean said, impressed in spire pf the current situation, "This guy was something." He handed a paper to Sam.

"Tough name." Sam commented.

"Yeah, Cuthbert Sinclair." Dean announced, "I'd have just gone with 'Magnus'."

"Looks like he designed most of the warding that keeps the bunker safe." Sam revealed.

"Says he was named, 'Master of Spells,' right after he was initiated." Dean recapped.

"I guess his work got a little crazy." Sam speculated, "The leadership called it, 'eccentric,' and 'irresponsible'."

"K, so these are the projects he proposed the last two years he was here." Dean said, going through the papers, "Look at this- 'rejected,' rejected,' 'rejected'." He found more form, "'Formal Separation from Men of Letters—April 1956'."

"He missed the massacre." Sam declared.

"And this the guy who has Hael?" He asked, his fear for the female angel evident in his voice, "And we still have no way to find her?"

"We have a clue." Sam said quickly, "We the place Crowley's demons tracked him to."

"You mean the place where they found absolutely nothing?!" Kevin exclaimed, slamming the table.

"Well, he was a genius at warding, right?" Sam reasoned, trying to calm the teenager down, "Sure as Hell ain't gonna be found by a bunch of demons."

"Ans what makes you think you'll be able to find him?" Kevin challenged.

"If he's so bent on hiding maybe he's watching." Dean suggested, "We tell him who we are, maybe he'll want to talk to us?"

"Really?" Kevin balked, " _That's_ your plan?"

"Right now, it's the best we got." Dean replied.

Kevin paused to get himself under control. "All right, then," He relented, standing up, "Let's go."

"Whoa, there." Dean said, him and Sam standing up as well, "It's just gonna be me and Sam on this one."

"What?!" Kevin balked, "No way!"

"Kevin, we don't know what we're walking into." Sam warred.

"I don't care!" Kevin shouted, "I'm not gonna sit back while my…" His voice trailed off when he realized what he almost revealed.

"Kevin," Sam said, "Everybody knows about you and Hael."

"Well, not everybody." Dean elaborated, "Just the people who are around all the time."

Kevin was silent for a moment then said, "Them you know I'm not just going to leave her in the hands of some mad scientist who wants her for who knows what!"

"I also know she wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger." Sam tried, "She's want you here, she'd want you sage, waiting her to come home. And when we get her back, she's going to need you."

Kevin sighed. "Alright," He relented, "But if you don't come back with her, alive, don't come back at all." The tone in Kevin's voice let the brothers know that he meant it. He wasn't entirely sure how he would make good on the threat, but he meant it.

That was how Sam and Dean wound up walking through a forest of trees and into a clearing, "Okay," Sam began, "Here goes nothing." Then speaking into the air, he continued, "Cuthbert Sinclair—Magnus—whatever, we're Sam and Dean Winchester, Henry Winchester's grandsons."

"And Men of Letters, ourselves." Dean added.

"We know what happened back in the day." Sam countered, "We don't necessarily agree with it. We figured…Maybe you want to tell your side of the story."

For a moment there was nothing, then a smoky doorway suddenly began to raise from the ground. Sam and Dean exchanged looks before walking through it. They immediately found themselves in the hallway of a beautiful mansion.

"Which way?" Sam wondered aloud.

Dean motioned to the right and they walked down the hall. When they rounded the corner they were set upon by two men dressed from a bygone era, opening their mouth revealing themselves to be vampires.

They fought off the vampires and beheaded both of them.

Suddenly an intercom in the hallway was activated, and they could hear clapping and a voice. "Bravo!" The voice congratulated them, "Well done."

Suddenly, a figured appeared in the hall. It was a man roughly the same age as the Winchesters, with smooth dark brown hair. Like the vampires before him, he was dressed as if he was from another time.

"Good show, gentlemen." The man said, before his clapping ceased.


	50. The Trade

The Winchester honestly didn't know what to expect when they sought out this former Men of Letters turned sorcerer, and monster collector. However, they did not expect to be sitting on a rather nice leather couch while the man poured himself a drink.

"Sorry about all the theatricality." He was saying, "I just wanted to see what you two were made of."

"So, what, are we underground?" Dean asked, trying to get an understanding of the situation.

"No." Magnus replied, "No, my fortress is right where you were standing. But it's invisible."

"Then you must be Cuthbert Sinclair." Sam assumed.

"Ugh." Magnus groaned, "I haven't gone by that moniker in, oh…57 years now."

"Well, you're looking good for a guy pushing…90?" Dean responded.

"Well, thanks, sport." Magnus replied, "There's a spell for damn near everything. I am impressed, though. You did exactly what you should've done. Though I am gonna miss those two from my zoo, though."

"Yeah, about your zoo." Sam began, "You happen to have an angel in there? One you've required quite recently?"

"Oh, gentlemen, you are in the mist of the greatest collections of supernatural rarities and antiquities on the planet." Magnus replied, "Thought I admit, finding a celestial messenger proved extremely difficult. I only just acquired her this morning, a beautiful female. Unfortunate about the state of her wings, though. But apparently that's common place nowadays."

So, he did have Hael.

"I'm sorry." Magnus continued, "Did you say you were Men of Letters? I thought the whole thing died out after '58."

"Well, we are-we are legacies." Sam explained, "But actually, uh…we're hunters."

"Hunters?" Magnus repeated, "Wow! Hunters. With the keys to the kingdom. The boys must be spinning in their graves. Damn snobs. Although I was always found of Henry. I was his mentor, you know? Yeah, 'till the squares gave me the boot. Yeah. 'Course, he came here to visit me, in secret. Called out to me, same as you did. Oh, yes. Quite the wild hair, your grandfather was."

"Listen, Magnus, uh…" Dean began, "We got ourselves a little situation. That angel you, ah, just bought…we think she's a friend of ours. We were hoping you would be open to giving her back."

"Mmm." Magnus mused, "Now, that is interesting, for one thing, you're hunters, but you're friends with supernatural creatures."

"We don't usually." Dean replied, "But she's an exception to the rule."

"How open-minded of you." Magnus commented, "And what make you think your angel and mine are one in the same?"

"Because she taken by a woman named Jennifer Mullins." Sam spoke up, "Apparently you're on of her clients."

"Well, I _did_ get this one from Jennifer." Magnus admitted, "Why don't I go get her and we can see if she's yours or not?"

Both of the boys were taken aback. They didn't think it was going to be that easy. "If you would do that, sure." Sam said finally, "That'd be great."

"I'll be back in a few minutes." Magnus promised, standing up before walking away, "Wait here."

 _Like we have a choice,_ Dean thought. Then, once Magnus was gone, he turned to Sam and asked, "Dude, can you get us out of here?"

"I don't know." Sam admitted.

"What?" Dean balked, "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean this place is so warded I'm not sure that I can fly." Sam replied, "You seriously didn't consider that possibility?"

"I did but I was really hoping this wouldn't be an issue." Dean hissed.

"Look, if I can't fly, we'll figure something else out." Sam replied.

"Like what?" Dean challenged.

"Maybe we have something he wants more than he wants an angel." Sam suggested, "We have out stash of artifacts."

" _That's_ plan B?" Dean responded, "Offer a ransom?"

"You got a better plan B?" Sam countered, "Dean, we don't even know where the front door is."

Just then Magnus came back, leading Hael by the hand. She had been made to change out of the clothes she had been wearing light pink long-sleeved blouse, a long, darker pink, almost dusky red skirt and cloche and heels that matched the skirt. When saw the brothers she let go of her captor's hand and shouted, "Sam! Dean!" running towards them. They stood up just in time for to hit Sam's chest.

"Are you alright?" Dean asked, "Are you hurt?"

Hael shook her head into Sam's chest, and he thought his shirt might be a bit wet.

"I assure you, Muriel has been treated very well." Magnus said.

Dean opened her mouth to correct, then realized Hael probably lied to him about her name. _Smart kid._

"Except for the part where I was kidnapped, drugged, bought like chattel, robbed of my liberty, and made to wear this ridiculous getup." Hael spat reeling back from the embrace. There were tracks of tears on her face, which she quickly whipped away, unwilling to show weakness in front of her captor.

"Only the last one was my doing." Magnus replied, "But I believe your friends are going to try to fix that."

Sam grabbed the sleeves of Dean and Hael and tried to fly, but his fears were confirmed. The warding had them trapped.

"What are you doing?" Magnus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing." Sam lied quickly.

"I don't suppose you'll just-let us leave with her." Dean said.

"You would be right." Magnus replied, "Unless you can make it worth my while I fully intend on keeping her."

"We can do that." Sam offered quickly, "We have access to the Men of Letters Bunker. You can have your pick of anything from it, just as long as she comes back with us."

Magnus appeared to mull over the offer for a moment before saying. "Sorry, but I've already seen everything. If you want me to give up my only angel, you're going to have to do better than that."

Sam knew what he had to do now. "How about the only angel that was ever once a human?"

"What?!" Dean said, alarmed and seeing where this was going, "Sam, no!"

"Sam, please." Hael added, "Don't do this on my account."

"What are you all going on about?" Magnus demanded.

Sam stepped away from the others and unfurled his wings, casting their shadow across the room.

Magnus just stared in awe foe a few moments. "And you're saying you use to be human?"

"Yeah." Sam said, "Since the Fall-did you hear about that?"

"Jennifer told me something about it." He walked closer to Sam, circling him, utterly fascinated, "How did this happen?"

"Apparently if you shut the gates of Hell, you turn into an angel." Sam explained.

"Fascinating." Magnus beamed, "You are going to have to explain that to me in more detail later."

"Only if you let them go." Sam insisted, intensely.

"Of course." Magnus replied, "A deal's a deal." He turned around and pinches some green powder from a bowl on the end table.

"Sam, you can't do this!" Hael shouted running towards him, "I won't let you."

"Same here." Dean said, "Listen to her, Sam."

Sam grabbed Hael on either side at the bend of her arm and sat her back next to his brother. "Dean, this is happening." Sam said firmly, "Just, get her home for me, okay." Then he hugged Dean and whispered in his ear, "And don't think I actually intend on staying."

"And how do you expect to get out on your own?" Dean countered, also in a whisper, so Magnus couldn't hear them.

"If you're all are finished with your goodbyes," Magnus spoke up, "Come over here and I'll let your friends out."

Sam did, standing next to the man and resisting the urge to punch him out for a moment. He blew the powdered at Hael and Dean began to recite the spell.


	51. The Collection

Magnus lead Sam down the halls. "You might have noticed a little design flaw to the place- "The collector or was saying, "No windows, no doors."

"So, you're saying don't try to escape, because you won't get that far." Sam replied. It was a statement, not a question, "Don't worry, I'll keep my end of the bargain if you kept yours."

"Don't worry." Magnus assured him, "Your brother and your friend are fine. They should be on their home right now."

Meanwhile Dean and Hael were rushing through the woods, Dean pulling out his cellphone the minute he got a signal. "We got a problem." He said, the moment his call was picked up, "Magnus has Sam."

Meanwhile, Sam was read to a room filled with cells and cages. They were much nicer then Jennifer's set-up, brightly lit and clean, but, still, they were cages.

"Welcome to your new home, Samuel." Magnus said, leading him down the rows.

"Cozy." Sam snarked, looking around at the other creatures. He spotted a ghoul, a couple of shapeshifters, at least one other vampire, and a Lamia, or all things.

"Don't get too discouraged." Magnus said, "I don't think you'll be spending that much time here."

"Why is that?" Sam asked, as they came to stop at one of the cages and started to open it.

"Because you're far to interesting," Magnus replied, opening the cell and gesturing for Sam to come inside, "I'm going to want to get a better look at you later. And maybe I'll just want to talk."

"Talk?" Sam repeated, allowing himself to be chained.

"I have to be honest with you, it has gotten lonely over the years." Magnus explained, "I could use a companion." He touched a shackle and added, "I might even take these off once I'm sure I can trust you."

"A little creepy, but okay." Sam pretended to agree.

Magnus gave him small smile that Sam thought was meant to be reassuring. "I'll get the examination room ready, then I'll be back." And with that, he left.

 _Sorry, Magnus._ Sam thought, searching his pockets for something to pick the lock, _I don't instead to be here that long._ At last he found a paper clip. He undid it, and put one end in the lock of the shackle. He started to work when he got the feeling he was being watched.

He looked at the cage across from him and saw beautiful little girl with curly brown hair, blue eyes, and rosy cheeks staring back at him.

"Hey," He said, getting as close as he could, causing the girl to run back into the cage, "No, it's okay. What's your name?"

"Mine's Sam." He offered.

"I'm Luda Mae." The little girl finally said.

"That's a pretty name." Sam replied, gently, "Hey, Luda Mae, can you tell me what you are? What species, I mean?"

Suddenly an adult female voice ordered, "Luda, get away from there."

The ran to the back of the cage to a figure Sam couldn't make out. She turned back at him and glared with unforgiving eyes, with peapod pupils as she pulled Luda Mae close to her.

"I'm sorry." Sam said, "I didn't mean any harm."

"Since you're new here, I'll cut you some slack." The woman snapped, "But we leave each other alone."

"How's that working out for you so far?" Sam questioned.

The figure stepped forward, revealing a woman that looked at lot like Luda Mae, except with straighter hair, and dull eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, don't you want out of here?" Sam reasoned, "You can't want your daughter to live like this. I'm assuming Luda is your daughter."

The woman was silent for a moment. "I was pregnant when they brought me in. I was digging up a grave to get something to eat. I tried to run but, I was too far along, it slowed me down."

"So, Luda Mae was born here?" Sam concluded.

The woman nodded.

"And you really want _this_ to be the only life she ever knows?" Sam challenged.

"As opposed to _what_?" The woman snapped, "Digging up corpses for their brains only for a bunch hunters to want to kill you anyway? They didn't care that I wasn't hurting anybody, they didn't even care that I was pregnant! Her father never killed anyone, and they killed him anyway! At least here she's protected from that!"

Sam paused a minute, thinking of some sort argument. "I'm sorry all that happened to you." He said at last, "But is being controlled by someone who sees you and your daughter as nothing more than objects, really that much better? He could anything to you, either of you, at any time. Now, outside of here, I could protect you both, see that you get what you need."

"Why?" The woman questioned, "Why would you do that for us? What would an angel care about a couple of Kitsune?"

"Because I wasn't always an angel." Sam replied, "And I still have human feelings. And I think you two have suffered enough. Now, can we please start over?"

The woman was silence for what felt like ages, considering what the angel had said. At last she said, "My name's Margery."

"Well, Margery," He began, "My name's Sam, and I'm gonna get us all out of here."

Sam went back to work, managing to pick the lock on one shackle, then the other. Finally, he started on the door lock.

"Picking the lock?" Margery questioned, watching the procedure intently, "It's that simple?"

"I wasn't sure it would work, either." Sam admitted, as he finally caught the mechanism, "I guess he assumed that no one would think of this. Or he didn't take it into account because he was so focused on containing powers."

He finally opened it, freeing himself, then hurried over to the cage holding Margery and Luda Mae and grabbed the lock, "Let's see if I can get these off a little faster." Then he squeezes with all his might, crushing the lock like it was nothing, and threw open the door.

Margery quickly picked up Luda Mae before moving slowly across the cage, before stepping on foot out, and finally, for the first time in five years, touching the ground outside the cage.

The two found a place to hide Luda Mae in the back of the margarine. "Stay here until Mommy or this nice man comes to get you." Margery instructed before going off with Sam and freeing the others.

Sam procced to break the lock of every single cage while Margery gathered them together and tried to keep them under control Some jumped out right away without having to be told, others just stared, like they didn't know what to do with the offer of freedom, others still backed away in fear. Some even go violent. The effects of their captivity seemed to have a wide, varying range.

After Margery got the crowd reasonably under control considering the circumstances, they all looked at Sam. _Okay,_ He thought, _so we're doing this again._ "Look, all of us has something in common." He began, "All of us wants out of here. The one problem is, there are literally no openings to get out of." Seeing the mob start to stir he quickly added, "However, there is one person who can get in and out of here freely. Magnus, the man who put us in this place. Now, there are – "He started but then eventually said, "A lot of us, and one of him. Now, if we join forces, we can force him to give us a way out, so-if you would follow he."

To his surprise, the monsters followed out of the zoo.

Meanwhile, Dean and Hael digging through the file box on Magnus as he waited for the others to arrive.

"Here's something." Hael spoke up, "Apparently, he wanted to make the entire Men of Letters Bunker invisible. All physical points of entry were to be eliminated, 'and entrance would only be gained by spell.' Oh. We're gonna need some things. You might want to call the others and see if someone can turn back."

Back in the fortress Sam was leading the band of monsters down the hall. "Where are we going?" Margery whispered in his ear.

"I'm not sure." Sam admitted, "But Magnus has got to be around here somewhere."

They past a set of doors that looked like they belonged to some kind of operating theater, then Sam remembered what Magnus had said about preparing an examination room. "This way."

Sam burst through the door to find Magnus laying out some tools on a table. Tools Sam figured were meant for him.

Magnus looked up at the noise and saw the angry mob that had gathered. "Oh." He said, trying to remain composed, "This is going to be interesting."

Outside, the Calvary had arrived and Dean was mixing ingredients into a bowel. "Okay," He was saying, as he was finishing up, "There's more of us then there are of him, but this guy's been gathering weapons and spell for years and he's got monsters he's not afraid to lose, so everyone stay close. And if it's not Sam, we kill it." He then held the bowel out and began, "Ingressum domi dona mihi."

A smoky door rose from the ground, and the group charged through, ending up in the same hallway Sam and Dean have arrived in.

"Do you know which way he took you?" Dean whispered to Hael, who was at the front with him, "That's probably where he took Sam."

"I was pretty out of it, but…" Hael began before they heard a commotion coming from the right, "I'm guessing he's probably that way."

"Yeah, that's probably a good call." Dean said, leading the others that way.

In the examination room, a lively battle had ensued, Magnus throwing off every spell could think of, causing several of the monster to crash, attack each other, lose their will and in some cases just die. The monsters however, were getting their fair share of kicks and hits in, and succorer was now tattered and bleeding.

Just then Dean, with a small army of angels and assorted humans burst in. Realizing what was going on, he quickly said, "Okay, you know how I said kill anything that wasn't Sam?"

There was a series of nods.

"Well, change of plans." Dean continued, "Now, just killed the guy they're all trying to kill."

The two groups merged into one giant group, and Dean found his brother at the front. "This is starting to be a habit for you." He said, pulling out a gun, "Forming monster armies, I mean."

"I'll try to break it later." Sam said, pushing one of the monsters Magnus had mind-controlled out of the way.

Magnus got a spell off, causing a werewolf to fall. However, he fell forwards, taking Magnus down with him.

At that same time, Margery noticed his fall, and an angel blade on the ground. She picked it up and charged her captor before he could recover, stabbing him in the neck before he knew what hit him. She kept stabbing and stabbing into his head hung loosely, almost detached from his body.

One she realized what she had done, she stood up, clutching the blade in her hand, staring in shock.

Seeing what had happened, Sam hurried over and grabbed a hold of her, gently calling her name. "Margery? Margery. Hey, it's over. He's dead. You did it, You're free."

When Margery didn't respond, Sam started to get more urgent. "Drop the blade, Margery. "The Kitsune showed no indication that she heard him. "Margery! Drop the blade."

Suddenly she let go, dropping the blade to the ground. Her whole body started to shake.

"It's okay." Sam said, drawing her close, "It's okay. You did what you had to do. You're free, Luda's free."

"Can we- "Margery began, "Can we go get her now."

"Yeah," Sam replied, "Of course we can." Turning to Dean, who had come over to them, Sam asked, "Can you handle everyone for a minute? I got promises to keep."

"Sure." Dean said, looking out at the crowd and regretting the moment he said it, feeling in _way_ over his head.

Sam and Margery however, were already out the door, taking her to her daughter.


	52. When You Don't Expect To Be Right

Two days later, Sam found himself back in the fortress, along with over a dozen angels, and the monsters that wanted to stay, taking the place down to studs.

Hannah walked up to him, holding of all things, the jaw bone of some kind of animal.

"What's this?" Sam asked, taking it and looking it over.

"Well, we're not entirely sure, sir." Hannah replied, shifting nervously, "But we think it's the Frist Blade."

"And the Frist Blade would be…" Sam began.

"The weapon Cain used to kill Abel." Hannah finished.

"Of course." Sam responded flatly, "Do you know how it works if it is what you think it is?"

"That's the problem." Hannah admitted, "From what we understand Cain is the only person who can use it, and since we have no idea where he is and even if we did he probably wouldn't be inclined to work with us…"

"It's basically useless." Sam finished for her.

"I'm sorry, sir." Hannah as meekly, as if she was afraid she'd be in trouble for bringing a dead end, "What should we do with it?"

"Catalogue with the rest." Sam ordered, "And Hannah?"

"It's just Sam, alright?" He said, "You don't have to call me, sir."

"Alright, si-Sam." she corrected herself before going off.

"So exactly what are we looking for here?" A voice said from behind Sam. He turned around to see Dean standing behind him.

"I'm not sure." Sam admitted, "But this is the motherload of supernatural artifacts outside the bunker. Not combing through for anything we could use against Metatron, or dealing with the other angels would be a serve oversight."

"I suppose you're right." Dean relented, then holding up a skull he found, said, "I just came to tell you that apparently unicorns were at one point real."

Meanwhile, Kevin and Hael were back at the bunker delivering some of the items they had already gone through, which also gave them some time alone.

They set the boxes down, then Hael slowly walked over to Kevin who opened his arms to hold her as she started to sob. "It's alright." He soothed, "It's alright. You're safe now. You're home. They can't hurt you."

"I'm sorry." Hael managed between sobs, "I don't know why I'm acting this way."

"How about because you were kidnapped by a maniac and sold to a sociopath." Kevin suggested, "You must've been so scared." He ran his fingers through her hair.

"I was." Hael admitted before looking up at him, "I didn't know what was going to happen, what he was going to do me." After a moment she added, "I thought I'd never see you again."

Their lips slowly moved together until they met in a passionate kiss. They kissed repeatedly, each one getting more intense, until there was noise from the other room. "What's that?" Hael asked, breaking the kiss to look in the direction the sound was coming from.

"It's just Dean's police scanner." Kevin said, pulling her back in, "Nothing to worry about." Them he heard something that got his attention.

Five minutes later, Kevin called Dean who went and got Sam, who was looking over some sort of ornate dagger. "We might have a problem." He whispered, "Can I see you in private for a second?"

"Ah, sure." Sam said, awkwardly before turning back to the angel had been talking to, "Just put it with the others, okay?"

"Yes, Sam." The angel said, walking off and Dean whisked Sam away. "Dean, where's the fire?" Sam asked.

"Okay, so, Kevin and Hael were dropping some of the loot off at the bunker when my police scanner starts going off." Dean began.

"Uh-Hun," Sam responded, wondering where this was going.

"And get this," Dean continued, "The transmission was coming all the way from Wisconsin."

"Okay." Sam said slowly, "I admit, that' weird."

"I'm not finished yet." Dean responded, "It was John Doe report, and John Doe, actually sounded a lot like Garth."

"Garth?!" Sam repeated, his voice slightly raised in surprised, "He's alive?"

"Only one way to find out." Dean replied, "We go down there and see what's what."

Sam looked around. "Uh, Dean," He began, "Now's not the best time. Um, I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Well, hand it over to Cas or Muriel." Dean suggested.

"I can't do that right now." Sam replied, "Not after everything that's just happened, especially on such a flimsy lead. Plus, I have somethings I have to take care of myself."

Just then another angel came up to them carrying a crate. "I think, I, um, found what you were looking for." He declared.

Sam reached into the crate, pulling out a brain in a jar. "Thanks." He replied," I'll take it from here." He took crate from the angel.

"Oh, right," Dean mused, as the angel walked away, "Your new monster sugar baby."

"She's not my sugar baby." Sam protested, "I just got Margery the apartment to help her out. She was locked in this place for half a decade, Dean. Anyone she would've gone to help probably thinks she's dead." Raising the box, he added, "And this could feed her and Luda Mae for months."

"Um-hum." Dean mused septicity.

"Look, how about a compromise?" Sam suggested, "You go and see if it's him, and if it is you tag me in?"

"Alright." Dean reluctantly agreed, "But only if you make sure 'Margery' doesn't eat anyone. And something better come out of all this."

"I'll try my best on both fronts." Sam agreed.

And so, Dean drove to Grantsbrug, his first stop being Grantsbrug Memorial Hospital.

When he arrived, he was dressed in fed suit and flashed a bag to receptionist. "Afternoon." He said as he did so, "I'm looking for a John Doe that was admitted here a few days ago. He's a, uh…skinny…Ichabod Crane-looking kind of guy."

"I know just who you mean." The woman said, "Room 113, agent."

He walked to the room and found Garth Fitzgerald, handcuffed to a hospital bed.

"Wow." Dean said aloud to himself, "I was actually right." Then he picked up the phone and called Sam.


	53. The Mystery Deepens

Sam was leaving Margery's apartment complex when he got a call. "Hey, Dean." He said, when he picked up.

"It's him." Dean said first thing.

"What?" Sam said, surprised. He didn't think it would actually be Garth. "Really?"

"Yes." Dean replied, a bit tense, "I'm looking at him right now."

"And what does he have to say for himself?" Sam asked, as now that he knew he wasn't dead, he was more than a bit ticked off at the guy for over a year of radio silence.

"Nothing." Dean said, "Assload of painkillers. He's been out since I got here. I was waiting until you got here to wake him up. "

"Yeah, just let me call Cas to let him know what's going on." Sam promised, "That is, if you think he's up to it, given what we just learned."

"One disaster at a time, Sammy." Dean replied, "We're in room 113 when you're ready."

Sam called Castiel to inform him of what was going on, then flew to hospital to find an unconscious Garth cuffed to the bed. "What's he being charged with?"

"Killing a cow." Dean answered.

That threw Sam. "Why?"

"I was about see if I could find out." Dean replied, "Lock the door."

Sam moved to lock the door, but saw the syringe Dean pulled from behind his back, causing him to rush back and grab his wrist to stop him. "Whoa." He said, "Hey. What is that? Adrenaline?"

"Yes, sir." Dean answered, not seeing the problem.

"You trying to jump-start him or kill him?" Sam questioned.

"I want some answers." Dean declared, "He walked out on Kevin. He walked out on us. So, if you got a better idea…"

Sam sighed then slapped Garth full in the face. Garth shot up, now awake, screaming. "Aah!" He screamed, looking around, fully confused, "Aah! Aah! Dean? Sam? What is this? A hospital? Wait. Am I in Heaven?"

"All right, take it easy." Dean eased, "You're in Wisconsin."

"You were hit by a car." Sam explained, "Do you remember anything?"

Garth groaned. "I, uh…Vaguely. "He pulled his hand up to hold his head but was stopped by the handcuff, "What's with the hardware?"

Sam unlocked and remove the cuffs while Dean said, "You tell us. And while you're at it, why don't you give us the lowdown on why you went AWOL for the last six months? Only way we tracked you down is that you offed a cow."

"Offed a…what?" Garth responded, I—I—I was on a hunt."

"Hunt for what?" Sam asked.

"I—oh, no." Garth said, turning green and looking like he was going to throw up, Oh, get back. Ohh. Oh, God." In a panic, he pulled on the monitors and the IV off, jumped out of the bed and rushed to the bathroom; shutting the door behind him. The boys could hear gagging and retching.

"Good thing I didn't give him the adrenaline." Dean declared.

The boys waited with Garth vomiting and coughing in the bathroom. After a while the silence became deafening so they started making small talk.

"So," Dean began, "You find anything that could help take down Metatron?"

"Actually, uh, yeah." Sam replied, "It turns out that Magnus had hold section deacated to angel-killing artifacts."

"A whole section?" Dean repeated.

"He had a couple like it for different creatures." Sam explained, "I guess in case his specimens got restless."

"Hmm." Dean mused, chuckling a little.

"What?" Sam asked.

"That didn't do him much good, did it?" Dean pointed out.

"I suppose it didn't." Sam replied.

There was more retching and coughing from the bathroom.

"Just breathe, Garth!" Dean called out, "Work it out."

There was silence again then Sam asked, "Have you been able to talk to Hael since this all happened? Get a feel on how she's doing?"  
"No." Dean admitted, "But she seems to be holding together. I mean, she was the one who found the spell we needed to get to you."

"Still, one of us should check on her." Sam replied, "She's been through a lot, Dean."

"She's an angel, Sam." Dean reminded him, "They don't really do trauma."

"Well, there have been a lot of angels doing trauma lately." Sam pointed out and a toilet flushed in the bathroom.

"Okay, we'll check on her when we get back." Dean relented, "Then we'll check on Cas, and we'll probably need to check on your…on Margery. Did you get those brains to her, by the way?"

"Yeah, I gave her portion just before you called." Sam answered, "The rest are in our fridge. She's invited us both over for dinner."

"She does realize we're not cannibals, right?" Dean replied," Well, with you I guess it technically wouldn't be cannibalism any more, but still- "

"She said she'd do a small thing of chicken or something." Sam cut him off.

"Okay, well, is she aware that you a actually-you know, eat anymore?" Dean asked.

"Well, I can still eat just to be polite." Sam pointed out.

Suddenly they realized there were no more sounds coming from the bathroom.

"Garth?" Sam called out.

"What?" Dean added.

When they got no response, they rushed into the bathroom. Garth was nowhere to be found and the window was wide open.

"Son of a bitch." Dean cursed.

The brothers quickly exited the hospital, looking for any signs of Garth in the parking lot.

"Why would Garth run from us?" Dean wondered aloud.

"Why haven't we heard from him for the last six months?" Sam countered, "Did you test him?"

"He was unconscious." Dean reminded him, "No, I—he steal a car?" He thought one might be missing.

Sam noticed a pair of boxers on the ground. "Did he…" He began, carefully picking up the underwear, "steal a car naked?" With Garth, anything was possible.

Dean tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the roof. "I'll see what I can find on those cameras. Why don't you go talk to Farmer Brown, see about that cow?"

"Yeah." Sam agreed.

When Sam arrived Farmer Brown was preparing to fix a fence, so as not to impede his work, Sam stood by, asking his questions.

"Last week, it was a couple of chickens." The farmer was saying as he worked on the short fence, "Goat the week before that. So, when I saw that boy tearing out of my barn, Hell yeah, I was gonna ask questions later."

"Now, the animals—were they all killed in the same manner?" Sam asked.

"More like sacrificed." Brown replied.

That got Sam's attention. "What do you mean by that?"

"Their organs was ripped clean out." Brown answered.

"Only the organs?" Sam asked.

"If this wasn't some kind of devil-worship thing, I don't know what." Brown deduced.

"Mm." Sam responded, "Well, thanks."

Back at the hospital, Dean was walking out of it with several papers and photos in his hand when he cellphone rang. He picked it up. "Yeah."

"So, the cow wasn't just killed." Sam recapped on the phone, "It was eviscerated."

"Well, why was Garth there?" Dean asked.

"He said he was on a hunt, right?" Sam reminded him, "Maybe he was hunting whatever killed it."

"Why would he run?" Dean countered, "This whole thing's starting to stink. You know that, right?"

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "What about you? Any luck?"

"Actually, I got the make, model, and license plate number of the car he stole." Dean bragged.

Suddenly Sam appeared in front of him. "And you didn't think to lead with that?"

"Well, you seemed so excited about your-eviscerated cow." Dean tried, then changed the subject, "Anyway, ride belongs to a girl named Bess Meyers. She lives in the next town over."

They traveled to Bess Meyers house, prepared for the worst. Which was why they kicked down the door, finding a shocked Garth, who had been talking to someone they couldn't see before.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Garth exclaimed, trying to defuse the situation, "Whoa, Whoa! Hey guys. I can explain. Everything's cool. Just a simple misunderstanding."

"Who you talking to?" Dean asked.

"What?" Garth responded, playing dumb.

"The girl?" Dean guested.

"What—what girl?" Garth denied, "What the— "

Dean pointedly grabbed a bra from the table and held it up.

"What now?" Garth asked in surrender.

Dean motioned Sam to the right, and he went left. They swiftly cleared the room, finding no one.

"All right, all right." Garth urged, trying to salvage the situation, "Guys, everyone needs to take a chill pill and put their guns down. Let's all be grown-up here and have an adult conversation."

However, all hope of that disappeared when suddenly a blonde female werewolf, leap from the closet, attacking Sam. Dean tried to get a shot when Garth tackled the gun away from him, screaming, "No!" The he left between Sam and the she-werewolf as Sam nicked her with a sliver knife and the wound burned. "Sam! Sam, please—don't hurt her."

"What are you doing?!" Dean demanded, "She's a werewolf!"

Garth's response left them stunned. "So am I."


	54. Fresh Meat

Garth and the she-werewolf sat down on the couch as Garth tended to her arm, Sam and Dean staring at them in confusion.

"It's okay, baby." He soothed, helping her put pressure on the wound, "Hold it like that."

"What are they doing here, Garth?" The she-werewolf whispered, understandably frightened.

"They're friends." Garth assured her, "I promised."

"They're hunters." The she-werewolf pointed out.

"All right." Garth began, "We've all gotten off on the wrong foot here. So, let's do things right. Boys…this is Bess…" He found over the she-werewolf, "My beloved. And Bess, that's Dean." He pointed at the man in question, "Now, he could start a fight in an empty house, but deep down inside, he's just a big ol' Teddy bear."

Dean looked annoyed and Sam chuckled.

Garth continued, "And Sam here- Sam can be a bit insecure at times."

Sam glared at him. He was not insecure. Well, not _that_ insecure.

"But for good reason." Garth finished, "Bless his heart."

"That's sweet." Dean snarked, wanting to get back to Garth's earlier claim, "Werewolf?"

"All right, guys, look—about six months ago, I was outside Portland, Maine, hunting this big bad wolf." Garth explained, "I took him down, but…He bit me in the process."

"And you didn't call one of us?" Dean asked.

"And tell you what?" Garth countered, "That I messed up? No, I-I knew the deal. There's no cure, so I accepted my fate. Ate my favorite dish of Egg Fu Young, watched the world's greatest movie, _Rocky III, and_ then…was ready to eat a bullet, when Bess here found me."

"And how'd she does that?" Sam asked, somewhat genuinely curious.

"Smelled him." Bess spoke up, "How else?"

"Yeah." Garth said, "She talked the gun out my mouth, and, as they say, the rest is history. We've been married for four months now."

"You're married?" Sam asked, surprised.

"To a werewolf." Dean added.

"Yes." Bess confirmed, "And my pack has taken him in as one of our own."

"Guys, it's not what you think." Garth added in quickly, "We don't hurt people."

"No, you just go all Wolverine on cattle." Dean guessed.

"Yeah." Garth answered.

"As least he's not eating human hearts." Bess pretested, feeling their judgement, "Do you have any idea how hard it is for a bitten to control his instincts, like Garth does? How well he's doing?"

"Thank you, baby." Garth replied.

"Well, it's the truth, honey bunny." Bess responded.

"Wait." Sam cut in, "A—a 'bitten'? You're all bitten."

"Not at all." Bess informed them, "You're either born to it, like I was, or you're bitten, like Garth."

"Hold on." Dean said, as this challenged everything he knew about werewolf reproduction, "You said you were—you were born a werewolf?"

"Second generation." Bess elaborated.

Dean turned his attention back to Garth. "Garth, can we talk to you for a sec? Alone?"

Garth first addressed Bess. "Honey, why don't you go find some ointment for that arm? Okay?"

Bess nodded and then left the room.

Once she was gone, the first thing out of Dean's mouth was, "What the Hell?"

"Look, I know you guys want to shoot first and ask questions later, but I checked everything out." Garth assured them, "This pack is clean. Everything's Kosher."

"Right." Sam replied skeptically, "Uh, minus the part where your wife attacked me."

"Yeah, because you two came busting in here like a house on fire." Garth pointed out, "Guns waving, the jawlines and the hair—it's very intimidating! What's you expect? Dean, no one wants any trouble. You got my word on that."

"Oh, no." Dean responded, "That ship had sailed. We're gonna need a Hell of a lot more than your word." Given everything that was going, he _might_ have been a bit more open-minded had he not kept it from them and for so long at that.

"Well, maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt." Sam spoke up, "I mean, he is a werewolf now, so maybe that gives him a better gage on good and bad werewolves."

"Did becoming an angel give _you_ insight into good and bad angels?" Dean argued.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up." Garth cut in, "Did you just say Sam's an angel?"

"Yeah," Sam replied awkwardly, "It's a long story."

"You mean, you've been ripping into me over this werewolf thing when Sam's sitting over there an angel?" Garth pointed out, gesturing to the creature in question.

"Well, _he_ didn't go radio silent for over a year." Dean reminded him.

"Okay, good point." Garth conceded, "So, can I see?"

They were silent for a moment, Sam shifting awkwardly. "See what?"

"Well, if you're an angel, you got to have wings, right?" Garth elaborated, "So can I see them? Is that okay?"

Sam sighed, then stood up. He took a step back, then spread his wings, sending shadows across the room. Seeing that he was in the shadow of his brother's wings, Dean stood up and walked out of range.

"Whoa." Garth gapped, clearing an awe.

"Yeah, it's amazing." Dean snarked, "Now back to this pack."

"Okay." Garth said, realizing this was not going away, "Okay. Tell you what. You want proof? Come pray with us."

Dean and Sam exchanged confused looks.

Later, Dean parked the Impala in front of nice-looking house and got out. He walked back to the trunk as the phone rang. I was Sam, who was at the police station.

"You there?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, just pulled up." Dean replied, grabbing a sliver knife from the back "Nothing too sketchy yet."

"That's a good thing, right?" Sam responded.

"Not betting on it." Dean declared, walking up to the house.

"Or are we just that jaded?" Sam suggested, "I mean, maybe's Garth's right."

"Well, ain't you a glass half-full." Dean commented, "Any luck with the cops?"

"Uh, sheriff should be rolling up any second." Sam answered, "Be careful."

"Yeah." Dean agreed. He hung up and approached the house. He walked up the stairs and knocked on the front the door.

It opened, revealing an older woman with faded blonde hair. "You must be Dean." The woman said, "I'm Joy, Garth's mother-in-law. Uh, stepmother-in-law, which I always thought sounded so silly. Please come in. We're just finishing up."

Inside, Dean thought he could here…singing?

"Why don't you just tell Garth I'm here." Dean requested, looking greatly uncomfortable and on edge. Which he was.

"Dean, you have my word-you're safe under my roof." Joy assured him, "I only ask the same in return. After all…I'm not the one carrying sliver."

Dean slowly entered and walked to the doorway of the living room, still feeling and looking very uncomfortable.

Joy rejoined the group in the room and in their singing, " _Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves, we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves._

Garth, who was at the piano, played an off-key conclusion and Dean couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

"Uh…" The group leader, an older man with short clipped grey hair began, "Thank you, brother Garth. Wonderful accompaniment, as usual. And I'll see the rest of you in the pews-9:00 A. M., sharp. No stragglers…sister Amelia."

The was laughter from the group and they began to walk off, Garth joining Dean in the doorway. "Oh." He began, "Hi. So, what'd I tell you? It's all good, right?"

"Everyone here's a werewolf?" Dean asked in a low tone.

"Yeah." Garth answered.

"Yeah, not all good." Dean replied.

"Oh, come on, Dean." Garth urged, "You just got to meet them." He then pointed out two men. "That's Russ and Joba, Bess; cusions on sister Joy's side."

Russ and Joba waved.

Garth pointed out the group leader. "That's Reverend Jim, Bess' dad-leader of the pack and a good man."  
" 'Dean', isn't it?" Reverend Jim spoke up, walking over to them, "Welcome." He extended his hand to Dean, "Jim Meyers. Folks usually call me…"

"Reverend Jim." Dean cut him off, "Yeah, I got it."

"Oh." Garth chuckled uncomfortably, "Uh, my bad. Dean's got this crazy fear of germs."

"I understand your apprehension, Dean." Reverend Jim said, "Hunters and our kind don't have the best history together."

Joy walked over and stood by her husband. "But I think you'll find we're not much different from you."

"Oh, sister, I highly doubt it." Dean responded.

"Why don't we break bread and see?" Reverend Jim suggested.

 _Man, they're not letting up._ Dean thought, _then again, I'll be having dinner with Kitsune sometime in the future apparently so-_ "What the Hell?" He said out loud.

Apparently, he didn't sound very conviction, as they sighed and headed to the dinner room.

Garth was shocked at his friend's rudeness. "Dean!"

"What?" Dean responded.

A short time later they were all seated at the table, Joy dishing out raw animal organs to everybody except for Dean, who had an overcooked sake, corn on the cob, and brunt biscuit. There was more corn in biscuits in the center of the table that no one was partaking of, opening the possibility that they were just in case he wanted more helpings. That made him feel a little bad, but then they started digging into the meat and he felt more than a little queasy, looking almost sick.

"Now, everybody eat up." Joy instructed, "But make sure to leave room for pie."

"Sister Joy's pies are famous throughout the badger state." Reverend Jim bragged on his wife.

"Mm." Garth uttered in-between bites, "Dean loves pie."

Dean glared daggers at Garth for even mentioning the fact. (Something he would later admit was a bit of an over-reaction.) He continued to watch the people around the table hungrily enjoying the raw meat. He continued to get, and look more sick and uncomfortable by the second. "Don't you guys say some sort of Grace or something?"

"We're more spiritual than religious." Reverend Jim explained, "We believe, much like the American Indians did, that nature and man are one."

"Yeah, really worked out well for them." Dean quipped.

Garth glared at him and Dean tried a different tactic after noticing a sliver bullet around each and every person's neck. "So, why are a bunch of Werewolves wearing silver bullets around their necks.

There was a moment of awkward silence and then Garth coughed before saying, "Sorry, Dean, but we don't use the 'W' word around here. We prefer the term 'lycanthrope'."

"'We?'" Dean aske pointedly. _You are aware you killed one just last year?_

"He's entitled to his opinion, Garth." Revert Jim said.

It was then Bess spoke up. "Many of our kind see themselves as indestructible. This is a constant reminder of how precious our lives truly are."

"Yeah, but it's sliver." Dean insisted, "I mean, doesn't it burn?"

"Yeah, it does a bit, but that's kind of the point." Garth explained, "It reminds us of our fragility."

"My daughter, Bess, was born a lycanthrope?" Reverend Jim began, "It was one of the proudest days of my life." He looked at his daughter fondly, then inhaled deeply as the tale took a darker turn, "Which soon turned tragic…When a hunter killed my wife. Believe me when I tell you, I wanted to make someone pay. Then I looked at Bess, and I realized the road to revenge is a dark and lonely one, which you never get off. And that whole in the pit of your stomach, you will never fill it—ever."

"Hey, no, I get it." Dean replied, actually getting it somewhat.

"So, I chose to look forward, not backwards." Reverend Jim continued, "And the minute I did that, the powers that be brought this beautiful, compassionate, amazing woman into my life. "He smiled at Joy. "And helped me raise a little baby girl as if Bess were her own."

"I can't take all the credit." Joy informed him, "Daddy had a hand in it, too. He saw your protentional."

That got Dean's attention. "Daddy?"

"My father-less his soul-was the previous reverend of our church, the third generation in our family to serve." Joy explained proudly.

"So, you're fourth-generation werewolf?" Dean concluded.

"Yes." Joy answered.

Meanwhile at the police station, Sam was talking to the Sheriff.

"Look, the good Reverend Jim and his family are all a little new-age hippy-dippy like, but they're clean as a whistle and pillars of our community. Why is the FBI even interested in them?"

"I just go where they send me, Sheriff." Sam replied, as that was a rather good question, "Truth be told, I'm more interested in, uh…murders and _X-files-_ y stuff. Anything of that variety around here?"

The sheriff chuckled. "No, sir. We're just a small town. Not much crime of any to speak of. I'm sorry, agent. I wish I could help more."

"Ah, that's all right." Sam assured him, "But if you do think of something, give me a call."

"Will do." The sheriff replied.

Back at Reverend Jim's dinner had ended, and Dean was taking a peak in the refrigerator, where he found more platters of meat. Hearing people, behind him, he turned around and found Russ and Joba staring at him. "Still hungry?" Russ asked, well, at least Dean thought it was Russ.

The moved in threateningly, pinning Dean in the corner. Dean, not one to be intimidated, kept his gaze steady.

"The sooner you realize that all is good here, the sooner you can go." Russ told him.

"Don't you two have a chew toy or something to go play with?" Dean replied evenly.

Just then Garth came into the room. "Hey, guys. You mind if I grab a second with Dean, here?"

Russ and Joba left and Dean and Garth moved to the kitchen window. "Why are you being so hard on everyone?"

"Because there's no way all of this is what it looks like." Dean insisted, "No way."

"Why not?" Garth challenged, as Dean hadn't presented any concreate evidence.

"Come on, man." Dean responded, "I know you drank the _Kool-Aid,_ okay? But come on."

"Look, amigo…I know this all looks nuts, but I find it." Garth said, "Love and a family? Who cares where that comes from?"

"I do." Dean answered.

"I get it." Gath continued, trying to make Dean understand, "When I first got here, I couldn't let go, either. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But when it didn't, I had to accept the truth."

"Well, I got another truth for you—we were in the dark when you went AWOL." Dean seethed, as that was part of this that really enraged him, "I didn't know whether you were dead, or worse. You should have reached out and sent someone a message."

"And said what, Dean?" Garth argued, "That I was a werewolf? I was embarrassed. I thought it was best for everyone if I just stayed away. But that doesn't mean I didn't think about and miss you and Sam…Kevin?" After a moment, he added, "How is he by the way?"

"It was a little touch and go there for a while." Dean admitted, his demeanor softening a bit, "He went half-crazy, we thought a demon killed him mom for a while, but it turned out it didn't and we got her back for him. He's actually doing pretty good all things considered, got a girlfriend and everything."

"Girlfriend?" Garth repeated, intrigued.

"It's a long story." Dean replied, "They don't want anyone to know about it yet, so all act like it's not painfully obvious. She's a good kid, a real trooper, an angel on Earth, you might say."

"Wow, wish I could meet her." Garth admitted.

"Maybe you can after all this is over." Dean said, "If you pick up the phone every once and a while."

That night Sam and Dean met at the Impala behind Reverend Jim's house. While Dean was still skeptical, Sam thought his brother might be grasping at straws.

"Okay, Dean, they gave you lunch, they gave you pie." Sam recapped, "Why are we still here?"

"Uh, yeah, you're right." Dean admitted, "But something still doesn't smell right to me." He paused for a moment, briefly closing his eyes, then opening them added, "Probably not the best phrase to use in this situation."

"Look, I'm just saying, this wouldn't be the first time we came across a friendly monster." Sam pointed out, "Or a-a family of friendly monsters—whatever this is."

Just then, Sam's phone rang. He answered it, saying, "Agent Perry." After a moment he added, "Sheriff."

Dean watched his brother as Sam added, "How can I help you?" After a moment he added, "Really?" While motioning for them to hit the road, "Okay."

Five minutes later the Impala rolled up to the side of a field where the sheriff was standing looking at a gutted deer. The Winchesters got up and walked out.

"Well, you wanted weird, agent." The sheriff reminded Sam, "You tell me what tore up that deer. Nothing that runs in these parts."

Dean and Sam walked over to the and squatted down to take a closer look, their back to the sheriff.

"Fresh blood." Dean noted.

"Yes, it is." The sheriff agreed, taking his hand out of his pocket. The nails grew long and he turned into a werewolf.


	55. Botched Apocalypse

Dean immediately realized a problem with the corpse. "Still warm." He said quietly to Sam, "That means it died after we got the call." Which in turn, meant they were being set up.

Sam put it together and swung around as Dean pulled a sliver knife out and his jeans but kept it behind his back as the sheriff, still-wolfed out, already had a gun on them.

"Couldn't just accept that all was good here and move on, could you?" The sheriff seethed, "You have no idea what you've walked into, do you? No matter. You won't be walking out." He went to fire his weapon, but Dean was faster, throwing a sliver knife into the sheriff's chest. The sheriff fell to the ground, dead.

The boys quickly moved to the body and Dean removed the knife. Sam noticed a sliver bullet around the werewolf's neck and yanked it off. "Hey, look at this."

Dean did. "I've seen that before. Yeah, that is a favorite accessory of the good reverend and his flock."

Sam saw a word etched in the bullet and read it aloud, "Ragnarok?"

"Yeah, that's, uh, Thor, Loki, Odin stuff, right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, it's Norse's mythology's end of days." Sam confirmed, "But why is it etched into a bullet?"

"Who cares?" Dean responded, "We got all the answers we need."

"I don't know, Dean." Sam countered, "I think we need more."

"Oh, what?" Dean retorted, "Sheriff Andy Taylor here wasn't good enough for you?"

"Enough to kill Garth?" Sam remined him what was at stake, "Come on, man. Let's do this right."

"All right, fine." Dean relented, "Clean this up, grab Garth, lock him up until we figure out what's what. I'm gonna go check out that church."

The Impala pulled up to a white church and Dean entered the sanctuary. He walked down the line between the pews, shining his flashlight on everything. He came to the door or Reverend Jim's office picked the lock and entered.

Meanwhile, Sam landed in front of the door of Garth's apartment. He rattled the handle only to find it locked, so he took off again landing in the apartment itself, and to his horror, found it wrecked, as if some sort of fight had taken place.

"Garth?" Sam called out, beginning to search the apartment.

Back at the church Dean found a book on Norse mythology in Reverend Jim's office. He skimmed it until he found a chapter on Ragnarok then turned on the desk lamp and shook the mouse to wake up the computer screen. The monitor had a picture of Garth, Bess, and Reverend Jim.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Seriously?" He did a search for Ranarok and started reading about it when his phone went off.

Dean picked it up. "Hey. Did you find the love birds?"

"No." Sam answered, "Place is a wreck. No Garth, no Bess."

"What, they were taken?" Dean exclaimed, "Well, that's fan-friggin'-tastic."

"Tell me you got something." Sam replied.

"Well, this, uh…Ragnarok, end-of-days crap-star of the story if a wolf name Fenris, who kills the god Odin before the world ends." Dean explained. _Or at least he would if Odin wasn't already dead._

"Okay." Sam said, "And that helps us how?"

"There are cults that consider Fenris a wolf deity and worship him." Dean explained, "They call themselves a Maw of Fenris."

"A cult of werewolves?" Sam repeated, chuckling in spite of the seriousness of their situation, "What do they want?"

"Well, Ragnarok is not just a Bible story to these nutjobs." Dean continued, "It's an action plan—human extinction, complete and total werewolf domination."

"And…what?" Sam asked, "This is the-the ground-zero for their movement?"

"Freakin' Wisconsin, man." Dean said, as if their current situation was the state's fault, "Well, time for Reverend Jim to go down."

"Yeah." Sam finally agreed, "Need any help?"

"No, no, no, I got it." Dean assured him, "You just, uh, you find Garth."

"All right." Sam agreed, before hanging up.

Sam went to leave the apartment when something hit in him the back of the head. He nearly turned to face his attacker when he got an idea. These were probably the same people who attacked Bess and Garth, and if he faked unconsciousness, they might take him to them. So, he fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Dean was about to leave the church when he heard a car door shut. Dean hid just in time for Reverend Jim to enter the church.

Reverend Jim walked up the isle but paused when he smelt a certain hunter. "It's no use, Dean. I can hear your heartbeat. You've done this countless times, yet you still get nervous."

Dean stepped out of the shadows with his gun drawn. "Nothing wrong with a little fear. It's what makes us human."

"Fear is not a purely human instinct." Reverend Jim replied, "Even monsters known fear. I came to work on my sermon."

"Well, why don't you start by preaching to me about the Maw of Fenris?" Dean accused, "Yeah, that's right. I know all about you and your little pack's plan."

"I assure you, we are planning nothing." Reverend Jim insisted.

"No?" Dean responded, "Well, then, why did I read about it in your good book?"

Reverend Jim sighed. "Because generations ago, that hate and misplaced anger was part of our beliefs. But ever since I took over here, I have eradicated it from our congregation."

"Well, apparently some of them didn't get the word—like the good sheriff, who just tried to off her in my brother."

"Sheriff Pat?" Reverend Jim asked, surprised.

"Let me see your bullet." Dean demanded, before pulling the silver bullet necklace closer to him. He turned it around only to find no etching on it of any kind. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Reverend Jim asked, having no clue what Dean was talking about now.

"'Ragnarok.'" Dean quoted.

"What?" Reverend Jim asked, becoming alarmed.

"It was etched into the sheriff's bullet." Dean explained.

"That's impossible." Reverend Jim insisted, "The Maw is dead."

"Yeah, well, tell that to Garth and your daughter, who are missing." Dean informed him.

That was when it suddenly dawned on them what was really going on. "No."  
Meanwhile Garth was waking, and felt something wrapped tight around the upper portion of his body. He opened his eyes and realized he was tied with chains, possibly with some sliver mixed in the metal, to a ladder in a barn. He looked up to see Bess tied to wagon wheel, struggling against her chains.

"Bess?" He asked. What was going on?

The barn doors opened, revealing Russ and Joba dragging what appeared to be an unconscious Sam. They began to tie him to a tractor when suddenly Sam left to life, pressing his hand into each werewolf's forehead. A light admitted from his faces and they fell to the ground, their eyes black craters.

"Sam!" Garth screamed, even more alarm, then he remembered Sam's species change. "Was that…divine wrath?"

"Something that." Sam said, hurrying over to Garth and ripping his bindings off, "You guys okay?"

"I think so." Garth answered as Sam helped him up, "Bess?"

"I'm fine." Bess confirmed as Sam repeated the process with her, "What was that?"

"Well, I just smitted your friends." Sam explained awkwardly, "Though, in all fairness, they did kidnap you, so…"

Just then the doors burst opened again, revealing Joy. "What is going on in- "She began, but let out a loud, horrified gasp when she saw her nephews' corpses on the floor.

"Mom?" Bess asked, scared and upset, "What's going on?"

Joy reached out and slapped Bess full in the face.

"Hey!" Garth shouted, while Sam grabbed Joy from behind.

"I'm not your mother!" Joy screamed, "What the Hell did you do to them?!"

Sam slammed her against the wall. "The same thing that I'll do to you if you don't start talking. Now."


	56. The Anti-Climatic Chapter

Dean was rushing from the church yard, trying to call Sam who wasn't picking up. "Sam, pick up, dammit!"

Meanwhile, back in the barn, Sam, Bess and Garth had finished securing Joy to the tractor, with the chains that held them not too long ago.

"Why did you do all this?" Sam asked, "I mean, me I can understand, but those people are your family, you're pack."

Joy struggled against the restraints, staring at Sam with utter hatred as she began her tale. "Last winter, my little brother Charlie was killed by a hunter." She inhaled sharply, "My husband consoled patience, restraint. Just as when he took over our beloved church, he preached a new direction— "As she continued it became obvious in her voice that she found his views ridiculous, "Lycanthrope and man would co-exist. Peace was more important that dominance. I tried so hard to make his way work…to be a preacher's wife. But then…Charlie was murdered. And I couldn't help remembering my daddy's sermons. And by golly, he was right. As long as there is man, there can be no peace. Because man destroys. And I, for, am sick of it." She trashed, kicking and trying to lung out at Sam.

"I get it now." Sam said, "Why co-exist when you can rule?"

"Bingo." Joy seethed, still trying to get lose, "But my husband doesn't see it that way. See, he was bitten, not born to it, like I was. He still holds on to his humanity."

"But maybe if his daughter and son-and-law were to be murdered by hunters, that might change things." Sam guessed.

"My husband turned his cheek once." Joy said, "I don't think he could do it again."

"So, you would kill your own daughter?" Garth gapped in horrified disbelief.

"How many times do I have to say this?!" Joy screamed, renewing her trashing, "Stepdaughter! I'm the last of my bloodline thanks to you and your kind out there! And it's not like I wanted to do it, but Ragnorak-it's bigger than all of us."

"You're sick." Bess responded.

"Garth, would you mind, taking Bess out of here?" Sam instructed, "She's got gonna want to see what happens next." Sure, Joy was stopped for now, but she was too dangerous to be left alive.

"Come on." Garth said gently, walking her out.

"Is that really necessary?" Bess protested, knowing what was about to happen.

"I'm sorry, but she's too dangerous to let go." Sam said as Garth exited with Bess.

As Garth got Bess a safe distance away, Dean came running, and saw them. "Garth!" He called out, "What's going on?"

"Short version?" Garth began, "Joy tried to start a cue by framing Sam for our murders but Sam smote her accomplices, and is currently dealing with her."

"Oh." Dean said flatly.

Dean quickly went to the barn and opened the door, and found Sam standing over Joy's dead body, her neck hanging limply.

"Oh." Dean repeated, "It looks like you already got this taken care of. Should I-should I be worried?"

"No, I feel bad about this." Sam replied," I mean, not like, really, really bad because she was evil, but- "

"Yeah, I get it." Dean replied. After a moment he added, "Well, this is a bit anti-climactic."

"Yeah." Sam agreed, "A little."

"Need help with the body?" Dean offered.

"Sure." Sam said.


	57. Goodbyes And Hellos

Later, back at Reverend Jim's house, the boys said their goodbyes to Garth while Bess comforted her father.

"Be good." Sam instructed the werewolf, "Hear me?"

"I will." Garth replied, "Thanks, Sam."

"And if you need anything call." Sam continued, "And if it's a real emergency pray, but only if you can't get to a phone, because the hearing people in my head thing is still a little weird."

Suddenly a voice rang out in Sam's head. _Hey Sammy. Sammmyyyy. I'm praying to you. Can you hear me? Sam, Sam, Sammmmy."_

"Shut up Dean." Sam snapped suddenly earning him a strange look from Garth.

Dean grinned but Sam glared at him.

Dean motioned to the Reverend and Bess asking, "How's he doing?"

"He's taking it pretty hard." Garth replied, "Feels like he should have seen the signs earlier."

"Yeah, well, maybe you were right." Dean conceded, "Yeah, he seems like a good man…. considering."

"Yeah." Garth agreed, "And you were right. Everything wasn't copacetic. I screwed up again."

"Hey, it's okay." Dean assured him, "You were right about most of them being okay, though."

"Uh…" Garth began, "I know this may sound a little crazy, but…Maybe I could come back and hunt with you. I mean, with my werewolf mojo, we'd have an advantage."

"Yeah, look, Garth— "Dean began.

"No, Dean." Garth cut him off, "I never should've left you guys. Friends don't do that."

"Well hey, you said it—you know, who cares where happiness comes from?" Dean replied, "Look, we're all a little weird, we're all a little wacky—some more than others—but…if it works, it works. You got something here. Okay? Even though they're all werewolves. Or Lycanthropes—whatever. Don't let that go. Okay? You'll never forgive yourself. Besides, somebody's got to live to tell this damn story someday, and who better than you? Now shut up and come here." Dean opened his arms for a hug.

Garth was surprised, but he grinned. "Really?"

"Hurry up before I change my mind." Dean ordered.

They hugged and Dean went out the front door, followed by Sam.

Two days later, Dean found himself sitting next to Sam each of them with a pile of rice noodles on their plates, topped with chopped chicken, across from Margery and Luda Mae, who's noodles were topped with chopped brains.

"Thanks for having us over, Margery." Sam said.

"Yeah, "Dean agreed, taking a bite of the meal, "This is actually pretty good."

"Thanks, guys." Margery replied, "You gave me a reason to use the kitchen. So, ah, how did it go with your friend? The one you thought might be in Wisconsin?"

"You told them about Garth?" Dean spoke up.

"You just gave me more detail than he did." Margery informed him, "All I knew before then was that he was friend, you lost touch, and you thought he might be in Wisconsin." She took a bite of her meal and Dean tried not to gag.

"Well," Dean began, "It turns out…"


	58. Thinman

Compared to those few days, the next weeks that pasted were rather uneventful. Everyone continued to go through the items from the fortress dividing it into things they could use, things they may be able to use (that was the biggest pile) and junk.

One unusual thing happened, thought. Dean had started assisting Sam in the care of Margery and Luda Mae. He would bring packages of brains, check on them to make sure they alright and neither of them, most likely Margery, hadn't killed anyone. Sometimes Margery would invite him to stay for a little bit, putting on a pot of coffee.

It on one such visit, Margery said as she handed him his cup, "I think I might have found something that might be of interest to you."

"Okay, I'll bite." Dean said, "What is it?"

Margery took a paper and slid it across the table to Dean. "Photo leaked from a crime scene in Washington state. Girl was murdered in her room, doors were locked, windows were locked.

Dean looked at selfie the girl had taken and immediately saw a thin, ghostly figure in the background. "Who's the wall-flower?"

"Exactly." Margery replied, "I figure I should show it to you. That is, if you're not too busy with the whole-angel thing."

"Well, if Sam can't come with me I'll just swing by myself and deal with it." Dean assured her, "Looks like some sort of ghost, fairly simple."

"Still, shouldn't you go with…back up?" Margery asked, concerned. She didn't want to be responsible for Dean's death.

"One of the benefits of your brother being the only angel that can fly." Dean said, "Back-up's just a prayer away."

And so, that was how Dean wound up in Washington, the girl's grieving mother leading him into the girl's room, where there was a large blood stain on the carpet.

"I scrubbed for hours." The woman said, barely holding it together, "I'll have to rip up the carpet. My daughter, Casey…She picked out the color herself."

Dean's heart went out to the woman. He couldn't imagine what she was going through what now. He also wished Sam was here because he was already better at dealing with the traumatized and/or grieving people. "I am…very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Miles. You mentioned Casey had no known enemies. What about at home? Anything unusual you may have noticed. U…Electricity acting up or lights flickering…TV on the fritz?"

"No, no fritzing." Mrs. Miles answered, "No cold spots, either."

Her mentioning that unbidden caught Dean's attention. "Sorry." He began, "Out of curiosity, uh…Why do you motion cold spots?"

"I'm sorry." Mrs. Miles responded, "That must sound strange, but…it's been three days since…And the police have nothing. I'd h—I'd have to sell my house to afford a private investigator, so where the Supernaturalists called— "

"Whoa, uh, sorry, the…" Dean cut her off Um…Supernaturalist?"

"I know to the FBI it's not exactly orthodox." Mrs. Miles admitted, "But these men had answers no one else had, and I—I owe it to Casey…to listen."

"Now they—they brought up cold spots in relation to…?" Dean began.

"Signs of the paranormal, I suppose." Mrs. Miles replied, "They're coming back today to take a look."

"And did these Supernatuarlists give you a name?" Dean asked.

Shortly after leaving the house, Dean pulled up to a dinner where a white van with the name _Ghostfacers_ stamped across the side with an all too familiar logo. Dean walked up to the van, more than slightly annoyed. "Son of a bitch." He said. He was really hoping there were two groups of "Supernatuarlists" with that name.

Inside the dinner Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spengler were sitting at a both, each surfing the internet on their phones.

"Oh, wow, look." Ed said excitedly, "We got two more followers."

"Mm." Harry absent-mindedly mused, engrossed in his own phone.

"Yeah." Ed responded, noticing his friend's indifference, "Harry, I think it's from that library interview we did."

"Nice." Harry responded, clearly still not paying attention.

"Hey, pal." Ed began.

"Hmm?" Harry asked.

"What did Dana post?" Ed asked.

Harry finally gave a real response, turning the phone around and showing Ed a picture of the girl in question. "No, t's just—she changed her profile pic, and its cropped, but you can clearly see a guy's arm around her. And she's smiling like the dickens."

"Yeah." Ed replied, "Uh, it—it could be a platonic…arm that's touching her."

At that moment, Dean slid into the booth with them. Due to the look on his face anyone could tell he was annoyed, and the Ghostfacers responded in kind.

"Ah, a Winchester." Ed declared sarcastically, "Yay."

"Says nobody." Harry added.

"Ever." Ed said.

"All right, shut up and listen." Dean ordered, "This is how it's gonna go. You two clowns are gonna get into that mystery machine outside, and you're gonna leave town, or I'm gonna put holes in your knees."

Ed and Harry rolled their eyes as a waiter walked up to the table.

"Can I get your guys anything?" The waiter asked, "Something, uh…"

"Uh, we're ready for the bill." Dean replied.

Just then the dinner boss, a man dressed came up, holding a plate. "Hey. There's still crud on this plate. Now, hit the sinks and do it right."

"Sorry, Trey." The waiter said before walking off to deal with it.

When the waiter was gone, Harry spoke. "Ahh, first of all, you guys don't scare us."

"Not at all." Ed added.

Harry lifted his shirt to reveal the most pathetic gun Dean had ever seen in his waist band. "Say 'hola' to my little pistola."

"Am I supposed to be impressed with that treasure trail of the lady gun you got hiding in your, uh, pants there?" Dean asked.

"Uh…Both?" Harry responded, slightly deflated by nit getting the intended response, "Look, whether you like it or not, we are handling this situation."

"Yup." Ed agreed.

"Really?" Dean questioned.

"Mm-hmm." Ed replied.

"Cause I see a couple of fame whores who are pointing their cameras at a mom who just lost her kid." Dean accused.

"Guys, we're investigators, and we have every right— "Ed began.

"No." Dean cut him off, "No you don't. You know why? Cause you're just gonna get in my way. Or you're gonna get somebody else killed. Or both. So, you can walk out of here…." Dean presented them with his own gun, "Or crawl. Up to you."

"Oh, my God, Menudo," Harry exclaimed, "Will you guys relax? We know what we're doing."

"Yup." Ed backed him up.

"Really?" Dean questioned, "And what about the rest of the _Bad News Bears,_ hun? Where's the—where's the fat one? And—and the girl? There was a girl, right?"

"They—we dropped them." Ed answered, in a way that made one believe there was more to the story, "They were—they were dead weight."

"Well, t-they're still alive." Harry added, fearing Dean might get the wrong idea.

"They're—no, they're totally alive." Ed confirmed.

"I see." Dean said, "So, it's just the, uh, the dumpy duo, then. Well, that's great. So, here's the deal. A ghost…will land you two dead in five seconds flat."

Harry chuckled mockingly. "A ghost? Oh. They think it's a ghost. It's so mot a ghost."

"No." Ed agreed.

 _I can't believe I'm about to do this._ Dean thought. _Sam, give me strength._ Then out loud, he said, "Okay, I'll bite. What do you think it is?"

"Can I-can I do it this time?" Harry perked up.

"You got it." Ed replied.

"Okay." Harry began, "I've waited my whole life to do this. _Amazon me_ , bitches."

Dean was beyond annoyed at this point. "I will shoot you…Bitches." Then he prayed, _Sam, I might need you to get here before I do something stupid._

Suddenly Dean's phone rang. "Like I was saying, you were just going, right?" He began, "Great. Good talk." And with that, he got up and left.

"50 shades of whey too much protein." Harry joked.

As Dean walked off he looked at the caller ID, saw it was Sam and picked up. "Hey."

"Hey, Dean is everything okay?" Sam asked, "I just got this really weird prayer from you."

"Yeah, but you won't believe who I was talking to." Dean began.

Later on, at the motel, Dean was at the table, his suit jacket off and his sleeves rolled up, trying to researched the Miles' house when he heard the familiar sound of wings flapping. He looked up to see a bemused looking Sam holding a laptop.

"Something happened?" Dean asked, alarmed.

"No." Sam replied, "I just thought I should tell you this face to face, otherwise you wouldn't believe me. Ed and Harry wrote a book."

Sam was right. Dean was having trouble believing it even with them face to face. "What?"

"Yeah." Sam answered, setting laptop where Dean could see it, "Uh, _The Skinny on Thinman_ by America's foremost Supernaturalist."

"What the Hell's a Thinman?" Dean asked.

"I don't know." Sam admitted, "Un…" He pulled up a black and white picture of a runner with the same figure from Casey's selfie, which Sam had also saw, in the background. "Whoa. Check that out, thought. That does kind of look like whatever was behind Casey Miles', right?"

"Or Garth, if somebody shaved off his face." Dean brushed it off, "Big Whoop."

"Here we go." Sam said, finding a definition, "Uh, 'Thinman— 'an urban legend started on the world wide web—lurks in the background, of his victims' lives until he's ready to kill them."

"Yeah, because everything started on the Internet is true." Dean scoffed, "Like, uh, oh, the shark attacking a helicopter-they write the book on that one, too?"

"Dude, real or not, thousands of people have posted to this site." Sam replied, "It's like Thinman is the new Bigfoot or something."

"Or Thinman is just a ghost with a brand name." Dean suggested.

"You saying that cause you really think it's a ghost or because you don't like the Ghostfacers?" Sam challenged.

"Hey, don't forget—I found EMF in Casey's room." Dean pointed out.

"Right, but I checked the house and it was next door to power lines, which can affect the read."

"A girl died in a locked room, Sam.—spells 'ghost' right there." Dean argued, "Unless you wanna tell me something."

"Maybe it got in there before it was locked up." Sam countered, "Who knows, Dean? But how can people all over the world see the same ghost? Sprits don't exactly, hop around."

"I know that." Dean said, "but right now, with Heaven up for grabs the veil's gotta be all kinds of screwed, okay? Ghosts could be popping up anywhere."

"Yeah, but, Dean, Thinman sightings date back a couple years." Sam pointed out, "The Veil's only been a problem for, what, the last six months?"

Dean went back to his own laptop. "Well, know, people still see Elvis all over the damn place. Look, all I'm saying is these douche wheels aren't experts on crap."

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"I'm checking the local deaths to see if there's any candidates for ghost." Dean explained.

Sam sighed. "If it's okay, with you, I'm gonna stick around a bit, okay?"

"Okay." Dean agreed.

Meanwhile, Ed and Harry had _not_ taken Dean's warning in any way, shape or form, and were now in Casey's room, Ed backing up from the Ghostfacer camera and talking in a dramatic voice. "The closet—the setting if the sunset of Casey's life." He paused when he realized that Harry was enamored with something on his laptop. "Harry."

Harry looked up." Yeah."

"Come on, man, would you please stop _Facebook_ stalking your ex-girlfriend?" Ed entreated.

"I was right." Harry stated.

"Hmm?" Ed inquired.

"She changed her relationship status to 'it's complicated.'" Harry mourned, "What does that even mean?"

"Who cares?" Ed responded, "You broke up with her. Everything about that girl is complicated. Okay, she gets the cream puffs then tells you to take out the filling. They're just puffs."

"Yeah, that was some pretty messed-up stuff." Harry agreed. Couldn't see just order a different desert?

"Mm-hmm." Ed responded.

"Uh, okay." Harry continued, "I'm- I'm sorry, Mm, Okay. I'm good."

"Okay?" Ed checked.

"Back in the game." Harry declared, "We're close to finding Thinman, Ed."

"Mm-hmm." Ed mused a bit apprehensively now.

"I can smell him." Harry said, intensely, "I can smell his musk."

"Mm-hmm." Ed responded, sounding more uncertain by the moment as he watched Ed sniff an article of Casey's clothing, which even in the context was a bit creepy.

"Closer than ever. Harry finished.

"This is really serious, Harry." Ed cautioned.

"Yeah." Harry agreed.

"I mean, the Winchesters, at least one of them, are here, and, you know, I don't want my knees blown off by Sam and Dean." Ed reasoned, "Have you ever thought that we might just, you know, bail on this?"

"What?" Harry balked, What the—what the Hell is wrong with you?! We can't let those jock straps steal our glory. No one cares what they think. They don't even have a _Twitter._ We're gonna find Thinman, Ed, for our families, for Dana."

"Oh, so, it's about your ex eating her words?" Ed replied.

"It's about all the haters eating their words." Harry elaborated, "Maggie and Spruce—the just—deserters. They want to lead a 'normal life.' I mean, what is that?"

"Screw them." Ed scoffed.

"Screw them." Harry agreed.

"Right?" Ed responded.

"When we find Thinman, are they gonna be on _Dr. Phil?_ "Harry challenged, so sure of himself.

"No." Ed answered.

"We're gonna be on _Dr. Phil."_ Harry bragged.

"Hell, yeah." Ed agreed, renewed by his friend's enthusiasm, "Press 'record' buddy."

"You got it." Harry said.

Ed stepped back into the closet and Harry moved to start the camera.

"Wait for it." Harry requested.

"You ready?" Ed asked.

"Yep." Harry answered.

Ed stepped out of the closet. "The bedroom of a teenage girl is meant for two things—giggles and joy. Until one night, Thinman turned the giggles into blood."

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed, "You are so money right now."

You like that?" Ed asked.

"This is good stuff." Harry confirmed, "And it's gonna pay off in ladies, Ed—lots of ladies. We're gonna need—we're gonna need snorkels, cause we're gonna be swimming in so much— "

At that point Mrs. Miles entered the room with a tray of lemonade. Harry paused in embarrassment.

"Thought you boys might be thirsty." Mrs. Miles explained sounding like she was starting to regret letting them in.

"Please." Harry responded cordially, if somewhat awkwardly, "That sounds delicious."

Back at the motel, Dean looked up from his laptop to Sam who was sitting across the table from him.

"Okay." Dean began, "All right, over the past six months there have been tree unnatural deaths in Springdale, none of them connected to Casey Miles and none of them violent."

"Okay, that's not exactly a recipe for a vengeful spirit." Sam pointed out, "There have been a bunch of unexplained deaths pinned on Thinman. Um, a Vic dies, then, a couple weeks later a photo pops up of the Vic with Thinman photobombing."

"So, Thinman's stalking folks?" Dean asked.

"According to the lore." Sam responded.

"According to the idiots." Dean scoffed, "How come none of the Vics pinged our radars?"

"I'm pretty sure the mysterious deaths can be chalked up to non-supernatural causes." Sam explained," That and, honestly, most of those photos look pretty fake."

"Even Casey's?" Dean asked, suddenly fearing he had been accidently sent on a wild goose chase.

"Except Casey's." Sam corrected, "Casey's photo wasn't doctored. Whatever was behind her was really there."

"Okay, well, that doesn't make any sense." Dean stated, "I mean, how could something be both real and fake at the same time?'

"Well, a girl is dead, that' about as real as it gets." Sam said.

"All right, so, the last thing she did was she took a photo on her phone." Dean recapped, "How did that photo end up online?"

"No clue." Sam admitted, "It was originally posted to a Thinman fan forum, but the I.P. address was blocked."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait." Dean requested in disbelief, "This thing has fans? Of course, it does. Okay, well, then somebody wanted this photo on the Internet, and I'm guessing that the ghost didn't hop on line to post it."

In their search for answers to the question of who did post it, Sam and Dean went to the police station.

A portly sheriff deputy brought over a casefile box and sat it on the counter, and Dean asked, "Is the, uh, sheriff around? There's a couple questions we'd like to ask him." That while the deputy seemed like a nice enough guy, something about him made the hunter question his componence.

"Uh, sorry to disappoint," The deputy replied, "Sheriff's on a hunting trip. But I appreciate you agents being here. I could use all the help I can get."

Sam picked up Casey's phone in its evidence bag, and immediately noticed something. "Wait a second, was this cracked when you found it?"

"Yeah, man." The deputy confirmed, "Maybe she dripped it? 911 called ended dead at 11:59."

"Wait, what time was the photo posted?" Dean asked.

"Around 2:00 A.M." Sam answered.

"But the corner had the death at midnight." Dean reminded them all, "How could she have posted the photo from her phone? That—that's impossible."

"Or…Supernatural." The deputy suggested.

"What?" Dean responded.  
"Why would you say that?" Sam questioned, fearing he already knew the answer.

"A couple fellas came by, uh, asking questions about the girl's death, suggested they might be able to help." The deputy explained, "They, uh, gave me a book they wrote about, um…"

"Thinman?" Dean guessed.

"Yeah." The deputy confirmed, "Just…"

Dean turned and walked away before he did something he regretted.

"Not a fan?" The deputy guessed.

Meanwhile, Hannah was standing at the door of the bunker anxiously waiting for someone to let her in. She found something she thought they could use, but couldn't find anyone to tell, eventually leading her to the bunker's door for the first time since her recuse. She knocked again, and this time the door opened, slightly. (Sam was so shocked at his discovery he forgot to lock up before he left.)

Hannah apprehensively pushed the door the rest of the way open, poking her head in. "Hello?" She out but no one answered. She took cocious step forward beginning to walk down the stairs.

 _This is a mistake._ She thought, _I should go back. I should go back and just go through the proper chain of command. He might not even think it'll work._

Nevertheless, when she got to the bottom of the stairs she veered off towards the nearest hallway.

It turned out the bunker was a rather large place with several halls and turns, and Hannah soon found herself lost. She tried to back, but that only seemed to get her deeper into the maze. Perhaps it was some kind of spell that trapped intruders, perhaps she just had no sense of directions. Whatever the case, she was hopelessly lost. She wasn't sure how long she had been there, but it felt like a long time. She suddenly wished her vessel had been wearing a watch when she found her. Starting to panic, fearing she might be lost in this place for al eternity, she called, "Hello! Can anyone help me?! "She didn't care what the punishment would be for trespassing, it had to be better than this.

That was when she heard the giggling.

Hagar had been playing with Tirzah, gently tickling the infant's stomach, causing her to laugh, when she heard someone calling out. She stepped out of the room, and saw one of the newer angels standing there. "Hey," Hagar said, "It's Hannah, right?"

Hannah nodded. "I got lost."

The other angel sounded so vulnerable, that Hagar let her guard down, momentarily forgetting to block Hannah's view of the room. "That van happen." Hager said, "Just give me a second, and I'll help you find whatever you were looking for."

"Thank you." Hannah said, down casting her eyes. She knew Hagar was important, for Sam to keep her so close.

Just then, there was the sound of cooing from the room.

"What is that?" Hannah asked, endeavoring to peer over Hagar.

"Nothing." Hagar denied a little too quickly, stepping back in to the room.

That was when Hannah saw it. A baby about a month or so of age lying on a blanket kicking he feet and waving her hands happily.

Too surprised and confused to stop herself, Hannah walked into the room. "Is that…" She began," Yours?"

"No." Hagar answered, "Well, yes, but it's not what you think."

"Hagar." Hannah asked gravely, "What did you do?"


	59. Deadly Hoax

Castiel was walking down the hall when he heard Hagar saying, "I can explain."

"Explain what?" A female voice he recognized but couldn't name challenged, "That you laid with a human? That for some reasons the others are helping to hide this—abomination?"

 _Crap._ Cas thought, quickly turning into the hall where he saw a shocked and upset looking Hannah standing across from Hagar, who was saying, "No one lied with anyone. Well, technically her biological mother lied with her biological father, but…" Her voice trailed off when she saw the third angel.

Hannah turned her head and saw Castiel heading their way and gulped. If they did know about this, if they were protecting Hagar and the child, she was in trouble now.

"What exactly is going on here?" The male angel asked.

"We saw Tirzah." Hagar explained, "Accuse me of— "

"Yes, I got that part." Cas said, before turning to the other angel. "Hannah, what are you even doing here?"

Hannah lowered her eyes again. "I was looking for the commander." After a moment, she added, "Does he know about this?"

"Yes, but it's not what you think." Cas replied, putting a hand on her back and leading her into the room, "Come on, I'll explain everything."

And so, they sat Hannah down and calmly explained who Tirzah came to be in Hagar's care.

"But I still don't understand." Hannah said, still confused, once they had finished, "The child-Tirzah can't go to Heaven with you, and aren't afraid another faction will find out about her, use her to get to you, to us?"

"We're playing the first issue by ear, as I believe the saying goes." Cas answered, "As for your second concern, that's one of the reasons we were keeping this a secret. Of course, now that you know, we have a bit of a problem."

That was when it hit Hannah. She knew too much.

Meanwhile, morning had arrived and there had been a report of a death at the dinner they had been at the day before, and the Winchesters had just arrived. However, they could also see the Ghostfacers were there, taking picture of Trey's dead body.

Just then the deputy caught sight of the hunters. "Agents, thanks for coming."

Nodding to the Gostfacers, Dean asked, "What are those two crapshoots doing here?"

"I figured it wouldn't hurt to go a little _Medium,_ you know?" When he got looks like he had lost his mind, the deputy tried to justify with, "Uh…two counties over, folks were combing the place for a poor little dead boy back in August. The cops let a physic do her thing, shish, bang, boom—found a body a day later."

"Uh-huh." Dean responded, still thinking that anyone who would let the Ghostfacers anywhere near an official police investigation on any kind couldn't be playing with a full deck, "Excuse me."

"As Dean pushed back Sam asked, "Is there any, un, security cam footage?"

"Uh, yeah, just…" The deputy began.

As that conversation kept on, Dean walked up to the distracted Ghostfacers and slapped Harry's butt, exclaiming. "Hey!"

"Aah!" Ed exclaimed at the same an even more startled Harry exclaimed, "Aah!" turning around to face Dean.

"I thought I told you to beat it." Dean reminded them.

"Oh, well, what are you gonna do?" Harry challenged, "You gonna out me, 'agent'?" The word agent was said lightly louder and with air quotes.

Realizing they more or less had him there, dean tried a different approach. "Okay, look, playing paparazzi at a crime scene—who does that help but yourselves?"

"The bloggers, Dean the believers— "Harry answered intensely, "Everyone who needs just a little proof to know that Thinman is out there."

Suddenly Dean thought he knew what this was. Why hadn't he seen it before? "Wait, so you're saying there's a lot of folks online that are pretty die-hard about this thing?"

"Oh, yeah." Harry confirmed.

"Oh, yeah." Ed agreed, "Uh-huh."

You throw the right Tibetan symbol into the mix, you dumb asses even think that Thinman comes to life as a Tulpa?" Dean suggested harshly.

"Because thousands of people can't agree that Thinman is any one thing?" Ed pointed out, "The lore changes blog to blog. He's not a Tulpa."

"Okay, all right." Dean conceded, "All right. Right here, right now, cut the crap. Do either of you actually know what Thinman is?"

"No." Harry deadpanned, "We just play supernaturalist on TV."

"We have no idea what we're doing…" Ed added sarcastically, "Of course we do!"

Them the men turned the camera on themselves and things got melodramatic. "Thinman is part man, part tree." Ed began.

"Some people believe that he emerged from the nightmares of an autistic boy." Harry added in.

Dean rolled his eyes. "All right, so you have no idea."

That was when the deputy called out, "Fellas, you want to see this."

Dean, Ed and Harry walked over to where Sam had been viewing security footage with the deputy.

"All right, check it out." Sam said before replaying the security footage showing Thinman brutally stabbing Trey.

"Whoa." Ed said, almost as if he was in shock.

"Whoa." Harry repeated.

"All right, so, how did he jump from the parking lot to the dinner? "Dean wondered, "The doors were locked?"

"The footage shows Try locked them 10 minutes before." The deputy confirmed.

"Locked, not locked, it doesn't matter." Ed informed them. "Everyone knows Thinman can teleport.

"I didn't even get a blip on my EMF." Ed said.

"So, maybe it's not a ghost." Dean suggested.

"You Feds believers now?" The deputy asked.

Suddenly Ed got very uncomfortable. "Okay, un…We're gonna go. Uh, good work, deputy, agent. Let's go. Let's go man."

Ed and Harry left in a rush.

While the boy found Ed's sudden change in demeanor strange, they were just glad the Ghostfacers were gone and weren't going to question it. "See it again." Dean ordered, motioning to the tapes.

Shortly after found that, Ed was driving the Ghostfacers van down the road, while Harry at in the passenger seat, looking at their blog.

"Holy wow." Harry exclaimed, "Someone posted the dinner footage of Thinman to our blog."

"Who?" Ed asked, disturbed.

"Who cares?" Harry responded, "Maintain current velocity." Harry jumped in the back of the van and Harry could hear shuffling around.

"Hey, wh-why are you putting you ninja outfit on?" Ed asked when he saw what his friend was doing.

"I'm not gonna wait for someone else to die." Harry declared, "I'm gonna find Thinman tonight."

"Where?" Ed asked.

"The woods, ovi." Harry replied.

"Uh, that's kind of general." Ed pointed out.

"Well, the lore says that Thinman hangs out by trees, and the woods is where trees hang out." Harry reasoned, "Two kills in town—local woods the best bet."

"Two people are dead—really dead." Ed said gravely, "And I just keep thinking that, you know, maybe Sam and Dean should just take over."

Harry appeared from the back of the van dressed in black. "Frist off, Hell no. And—and quit raining on my rainbow."

"Rainbows can't happen without rain." Ed responded.

"Don't try to use science with me." Harry said, "This is about a-a feeling. And we can't quit when we're so close to finding Thinman and finally making up for everything we've lost because of…what we do."

Ed realized that dissuading his friend from his current path would be harder than he thought. "Okay, it wouldn't be the worst idea, though, you know, if we leave it to the professionals."

Putting on his night-vision goggles Harry declared, "We are the professionals, Ed."

Ed realized there was nothing he could do. "So, the woods?"

"Any wood, Ed." Harry replied, intensely, a man on a mission, "Any woods."

Meanwhile, Dean and were sitting in their motel room, Dean eating which Sam decided to forgo as he didn't need to eat and only did it to be polite, and discussing the case.

"Okay." Sam began, "Just grasping at straws here, but when I think 'teleport,' I think 'crossroads demon.'"

"Mm." Dean mused, "Demon that likes to stab and watch _YouTube._ Why not?"

"Oh, by the way, peaking of which, the video of, uh, Tray getting knifed is already online." Sam informed his brother, "It's like somebody wants people to see Thinman in action."

"It's cause people will watch, cause people are sick." Dean explained.

"And when did 'viral' go from that baby chimp falling out of a tree to killer _Candid Camera._ "Sam wondered.

Something about Sam's statement made Dean remember something that brought a sudden smile to his face. "You know what video would have gone viral if we still had it? When you were five and you got dressed up as Batman and jumped off the shed cause you thought you could fly?"

Sa, grinned. "After you jumped first."

"Hey, I was nine, and I was dressed up like Superman, okay?" Dean reasoned, "Everybody knows that Batman can't fly."

Sam chuckled as he said, "Well, I didn't know that. I broke my arm."

Dean laughed heartily. "I know you did. Man, I drove you to the E. R. on my handlebars, Mm, good times."

"Yeah, they were." Sam agreed before sobering up as he wondered how many more of those times they would have left. Or how many of these times they would have left for that matter. So much had changed in the last few months alone. They weren't even the same species any more, and Sam was leading an _army._ And one-day Dean was going to die, and Sam wasn't. Sam wouldn't ever die, baring angel blade or holy fire attack. Even then, they wouldn't be heading to the same afterlife anymore, if there was an afterlife for Sam at all. He was entertaining thoughts like these more and more lately.

A knock on the door fortunately interrupted those bleak thoughts. Dean got up to answer it but before we could get the door, Ed came barging in.

"Come in." Dean snarked, exasperated. Now they couldn't even get away from these guys in their motel?

"I gotta tell you guys something important, and then the case is yours." Ed declared.

Meanwhile, Harry was in the woods, actually a small collection of trees behind a grocery store, filming himself and providing commentary.

"Harry here, solo Ghostfacer, investigating a possible Thinman habitat…in the woods." He said into the camera, "All alone, deep in the woods, a man could lose his marbles being so close to the blade of doom. Lucky for us, I'm really good at marbles."

Meanwhile, Ed was sitting on the bed in the motel, beginning to tell Sam and Dean his story. "All right, either you bleed Ghostfacer red or you don't. If Spruce wanted to start a startup, and Maggie's heart was in the roller derby, who am I to stop them? But Harry—I-I couldn't let him give into his girl. I mean, she—she called the Ghostfacers stupid. Stupid! Can you—can you believe that? I-I don't care how much money her daddy's Hege fund has. I just couldn't watch Harry become a corporate stooge. "

"Okay, this all sounds like sad times at Bitchmont High." Dean cut in, losing his patience, "What does this have to do with the case?"

"Harry was gonna leave, so I needed to give him a reason to stay." Harry continued, "I-I made up Thinman."

Dean and Sam stared at Ed with shocked faces, because, they were actually shocked.

Meanwhile, Harry was still talking into the camera. "Thinman stalks his victims, but the tables have turned my friends. The stalker is now the stalkeee." The camera reveal Thinman, or someone or something disguised as Thinman, apparently, watching Harry.

Back at the motel, Dean asked the obvious question. "So, you're saying that this crap is actually crap?"

"One photo of a butler, a lot of _Photoshop later_ , I posted on one of those horror forums under 'anonymous.'" Ed explained, "And it blew up. Yeah. I only faked on case for us, and then we're packing up to go home when somebody posted a sighting of Thinman, so…we went after it, and that's how Thinman became a crowdsource legend. Look, we were at the front of it. It felt like something. It—it was so awesome to have a following, and Harry—he was just—he was so into it."

"Ed, you have to tell him." Sam responded.

"We don't get it." Ed replied, "We were the Thinman guys. Without the Thinman, we're just…guys-just-we're just puffs."

"What?" Dean asked, having no clue of the significance.

"What?" Sam questioned, equally confused.

"If I tell Harry, he's gonna leave the Ghostfacers." Harry protested.

"Listen, if you don't tell him, he's gonna leave anyway." Sam tried, "Trust me. Secrets ruin relationships."

Ed finally conceded. Sort of. "Okay, well, I'll just tell him when the time is right."

"Time's right now, chief." Dean said firmly. Something was definitely killing people in town, and as long as Harry was out investigating Thinman, he was in danger. And in the way.

"Well, he's—he's not here." Ed replied, "Uh, he's—he's out in the woods, uh, searching for Thinman."

 _Has he lost his mind?!_ Sam thought, but said outload, "Okay, because Thinman, or whatever the Hell this thing is, has killed two people, and now Harry is in the woods alone."

"Well, actually, it's more like, 'wood,' um, cause I dropped him off by some trees behind a grocery story." Ed explained, still trying to get out of it, "Guys, come on. He's gonna be fine. Guys?"

However, Sam and Dean were already rushing out the door, so Ed quickly followed them.

Meanwhile, Harry, unaware he was being watched, found a formation of sticks and was filming it. "All right, what we have here, is, uh, -it's a—it looks like a formation of sticks in the shape of a pile. Could have been left here for us by Thinman. "Suddenly there was movement, "What was that?" Harry asked, looking around, "Oh! Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. We are not alone."

As Harry turned the camera on himself, he saw Thinman behind him. Harry leaped out of the way but felt a flash of pain as he was slashed in the ribs by Thinman's knife. Harry took off running for the parking lot, clutching his bleeding side. Suddenly Sam, Dean and Ed appeared in front of him, just in time for Harry to faint of blood loss as Sam and Dean caught him.


	60. The Ugly Truth

Abner stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind him, on the phone with his wife. "Again, I'm so sorry about this." He had the opportunity to check in so had been with her at the time the incident with Hannah and Hagar had occurred.

"It's okay." Janey assured him, "I've gotten use to sharing you with the celestial world. You were lucky you able to get away at all with everything going on. What's the problem anyway?"

"Hannah caught Hagar with the baby." Abner replied, "Apparently that requires a meeting."

"Which one's Hannah again?" Janey asked.

"I think she's the one Sam saved from those rouge hunters." Abner answered, knocking on the bunker door, "Sorry, I gotta go."

Just then the door opened, revealing Muriel. "Good." She said, "Now I think we can get started. Come on."

As they walked down the stairs Abner hear a female voice pleading, "Please, just let me go. I promise, I won't tell anyone."

"Hannah, I promise, we won't hurt you." Castiel replied as they came to the bottom of the stairs, "But something has to be done."

They came into the main room to find series of angels, plus the Trans wearing concerned looks.

Meanwhile, Sam was healing Harry's knife wound. "That alright?" He asked.

"Yeah." Harry confirmed, "Yeah, I'm good. I'm good."

"Yeah?" Sam doubled checked.

"I'm good." Harry insisted, "Cool healing powers by the way." Then he turned to Ed. "We were right, Ed! Thinman's real!"

"Yeah." Ed responded quietly.

Just then Dean came running up from the woods. "Some fresh tire tracks over there. I took some photos."

"What for?" Harry asked.

"Because that guard might belong to whoever knifed you." Dean explained.

"Well, whoever cut me was Thinman, and Thinman doesn't drive." Harry responded, "It was Thinman, Jackass! I mean, I shouldn't have to connect the dots for you guys. I figured, you know, you guys are both intelligent, m-maybe."

Sam and Dean both looked pointedly at Ed.

"Um, Harry." Ed began nervously.

"What?" Harry asked.

Back at the Hotel Ed explained everything to Harry.

Harry was understandably upset.

"Why didn't you tell that before?" He demanded.

"Because—" Ed began, tumbling for his word, "I-I don't know –I thought you were gonna get mad."

"Oh, good guess, Ed." Harry sneered, "I am mad. I'm really, really mad at you right now."

"I-I can see that." Ed stammered.

"You crashed the Jenga Tower of our lives, Ed." Harry exclaimed, "I was gonna get married. I left her to run around with you, living some lie."

"Well, at least we were living it together." Ed tried.

"Seriously?" Harry responded, "Seriously?"

"If I hadn't struck gold with Thinman, you'd be doing a boring job, doing boring numbers, answering to Dana's dad." Ed reasoned, "Okay? I saved you, bud."

"Save me?" Harry balked, "From what?! From having a nice life? From not getting stabbed? How selfish can you be?"

"Well, maybe it's too late, you know?" Ed suggested, "You could call her and see."

"That's not gonna work." Harry replied.

"Well, maybe—maybe it well." Ed tried.

"No, it's not." Harry insisted, "You want to know why? Cause she's got some guy's arm wrapped around her neck and 'it's complicated', okay?"

"Look, Harry, we didn't know from the start if Thinman was real or not." Ed began and when that earned an angry look from Harry, he quickly added, "I—okay, look, maybe I had some inside knowledge, okay, but does it really make a difference if we keep it going for the fans? They'll never know."

"I'll know." Harry countered, "You made a chump of me, Ed."

Desperate to save his friendship, Ed said, "Harry, we can get through this. We just debunk Thinman then we go back to Ghostfacers."

"I can't." Harry informed him, "I can't trust you anymore, Ed."

"Oh, come on, Harry." Ed pleaded, "I get it. You're pissed, okay? And—and you don't mean what you say. But, Harry, just tell me what you need."

Harry sat down and didn't answer.

"I'll get some coffee and –and you can just stay here and chill." Ed said, before leaving the room, meeting Sam outside the door.

"Hey." Sam greeted him, "How did it go?"

"It, um, went, uh…Um…" Ed fumbled before walking off in silence.

Sam went to check on Harry. "Hey. You okay?"

"I just got punched right in the feels." Harry moaned.

"Um…" Sam began, not sure how to respond to that.

"None of it was real, Sam." Harry lamented, "Ed was just pretending, and now he wants me to pretend, like this is something I could just get past."

"I know what you mean." Sam replied, "Look, there are things you can forgive, and there are things you can't."

"So, which one is this?" Harry asked.

"That's something you got to figure out for yourself." Sam advised him, wishing he could do more.

There was a knock on the door and Dean entered. "Hey. Uh…I got a bead on those tires, if you want to…"

Taking a cue from his brother, Sam stepped out in the hall with him. "What's up?"

"So, the tires were only made for one kind of car." Dean began, "It's a 1989 Geo Metro. Town this small—there's only on registered here. Deputy says it belongs to a guy named Roger who works night security down at the mill on the north side of town. "

"So, this thing teleported, but it has a job and a car." Sam recapped, "What are we dealing with?"

"Let's go find out." Dean responded.

Neither of them, realized that Ed had overheard that conversation from the hall and ran to tell Harry.

"So, Sam and Dean caught something, and now they're gonna clean up your mess." Harry summed it up.

"You're right." Ed admitted, "It is my mess. I should be the one out there cleaning it up."

"You'd just make it worse." Harry replied, then when he saw Ed's dejected look, added, "Oh, what? You were fine leaving Sam and Dean before. Why not now?"

"I don't want to be a Jellyfish spine anymore, Harry." Ed explained.

"Jellyfish don't have spines." Harry pointed out.

"Exactly." Ed responded, "Before the heartache, before the lies, we set out to help people, right?"

"Yeah." Harry conceded, "Mostly."

"So, there's no reason not to get out there and do what we mostly set out to do." Ed reasoned, "Harry, I-I can make this right for the both of us."

Harry gave in. "We can make it right."

"Y-you mean you want to come with me?" Ed asked in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean pulled up to the old mill only to find the deputy already there.

"I thought we said my partner and I could take care of this." Dean reminded him.

"Look, guys, my boss is AWOL." The deputy began, "We don't have a warrant. My ass is on the line if this thing goes sideways."

"All right." Dean relented, feeling sorry for the guy, "Just stay back."

Sam went to pick the lock but realized it was already opened. Sam and Dean entered with their weapons drawn. But before they could do anything, Dean fell to the ground and Sam felt a shot at his back. As a human it would've floored, but as an angel, he barely felt it. He whirled around and saw the deputy holding a taser, looking surprised and scared that it hadn't worked.

"But it worked on the other guy." The deputy wined.

"Yeah, I noticed." Sam replied, before knocking the deputy unconscious.


	61. The Death of Thinman

Dean awoke finding himself laying in front of a woodsy tapestry hanging from the ceiling, then heard the sound of slapping. He turned around to see the deputy handcuffed to a chair, Sam slapping him awake.

"Sam?" Dean asked, "What's going on? Why are you beating up the deputy?"

"Because," Sam answered, going off to help his brother up, "He's Thinman."

"Really?" Dean asked, as Sam lead them over to their captive.

"Really." Sam confirmed.

"That would make sense if it didn't look like you just ate a fat camp." Dean commented to the deputy.

"Hey!" The deputy protested the description.

"Hey, so, what's the deal?" Sam asked, trying to get the interrogation back on track, "What are you, Norwood? Because I know you're not a demon. I mean, how did you teleport back at the diner?"

Suddenly Norwood broke into a grin. "Team effort."

Sensing they were about to be ambushed, Sam and Dean turned around saw Thinman. Thinman then lifted his hands and removed his mask, revealing a regular human man.

"So, there was no teleporting-just a couple of douche bags doing the _Scream_ thing." Dean deduced.

"Wait, I know who you are." Sam declared, "You're the bust boy from the diner. So, what, you just wanted to kill your boss?"

"Trey was a dick." The bust boy replied.

"And what about Casey?" Dean demanded, "What did she do?"

"She wouldn't go out with me so I set her up with someone else—my knife." The bust boy mocked.

Norwood started to laugh. "Good one, Rog."

"You do realize- "A disgusted Dean began, then he noticed another body lying off to the side, "I see the sheriff didn't make it out of town."

"Well, he really should have given me the time off I asked for." Norwood reasoned.

"So, you killed him?!" Sam exclaimed.

"I didn't kill anyone." Norwood said, "Roger did. He's the physco. I'm the visionary. I don't blame you for underestimating me. Everybody does. Fancy Fed, coming in here, treating me like a paper monkey from the get-go. But I was Thinman the whole time. Do you have any idea how good the felt?"

"No, sicko, I can't say that I do." Dean replied, then turned to Sam, "Can we please just kill them now, please?"

"No." Sam replied begrudgingly, "They're human, so we should probably just leave them thrust up for the cops. If we're lucky maybe this state has the death penalty. And if not, do you honestly think these two are going to do well in prison?"

Dean gave the killers a once over. "Probably not. Fine by me then."

Both Roger and Norwood started to laugh. "You really think that's how this is going to go down?" Roger scoffed, "I mean sure, you have him, but-you still have to deal with me."

Suddenly Sam teleported across the room, grabbing up Roger. "I'm not a helpless teenage girl." He whispered in his ear.

Both Norwood and Roger got looks of oh _crap on_ their faces as they started to struggle.

"What the Hell are you?!" Roger exclaimed as Sam cuffed him to a beam.

Just then there was the slam of a door slamming from somewhere in the building. "You gather their crap, I'll go see what that is." Sam said, before taking off.

Harry and Ed entered the building and turned around, screaming as they saw Sam in front of him.

"What are you two doing here?" Sam demanded.

"We wanted to help." Ed began, "This is our fault-mainly my fault. We have to do what we can to set it right."

Empathizing a little, Sam sighed. "Alright, come on." The he grabbed each of them and teleported.

When they appeared again in the room with Dean and murders, even let out noises of surprise.

"How are you doing that?!" Norwood cried out, "Are-you-are you Thinman?"

Sam huffed, "No, I am not Thinman. Thinman isn't real. "

"Just ask them." Dean commented, pointing to Ed and Harry.

Sam shot his brother an annoyed look. Was he actively trying to prolong this?

That was Ed stepped forward and declared, "You're just a 'me-me.'"

"Ed, it's pronounced meme." Harry corrected him.

It's spelled m-e-m-e, tough." Ed argued.

"The second 'e' is silent." Harry explained, "Yeah."

"You're a me-me—a-a man-meme, and I invented you." Ed announced.

The killers exchanged looks again. "If you're not Thinman, then—then what are you?" Roger asked.

"An angel." Sam answered. Who were they gonna tell anyway? And who would believe them?

Harry and Ed gapped at him. "You're what?" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"Have you been an angel this whole time?" Harry asked.

"Wait, do you know a guy about- "Ed began raising his hand, "About yeah high, dark hair, in a trench coat?"

"Actually, it was an overcoat." Harry corrected him, "He was oddly spefic about that."

"Right, overcoat." Ed agreed.

"Also, he might have some sort of disorder." Harry added, "I mean, he didn't seem to understand why we were running away from him. I mean, I don't know if angels have disorders, but if they did—"

"And he broke my picture of William Shatner." Ed added.

"That's true, he did." Harry agreed, "And he told us we were going to bear witness to the Apocalypse and then told us to have a nice day. I mean, you cannot have a nice day when someone tells you you're going to bear witness to the Apocalypse! If you know this guy you need to tell him that!"

"Also, that holy spirit wasn't all that helpful." Ed continued.

"Right," Harry said, "Not helpful at all! One of the worst All Saints Day ever!"

"How do you- "Sam began.

"Can we please get this over with?" Dean entreated.

Two hours later the cops arrived at the mill. They had been given an anonymous tip about a dead body in the building. They entered and froze upon seeing two men bound and gagged in front of a wood scape.

"What the- "The officer leading the group began, walking over to the men.

Just another officer called out, "We got a dead body over here!"

As some of the officers went to investigate that, while the lead officer went over to the men, removing a note pinned to the thin one. It read:

 _To whom it may concern,_

 _These two are the ones behind the Thinman murders. They also killed the sheriff, as you have probably already found out. All the evidence you need to incite and convict them in this building._

 _Sincerely,_

 _A group of concerned citizens._


	62. The Parting of Ways

Dean was backing up the Impala back at the motel when Dean came over to him. "So, you hear anything yet?"

"Yeah." Dean answered, "They found them, and with all the bread crumbs we left, it shouldn't be hard to convict."

"I'll still check in later just in case." Sam replied, "They were just people, man. They weren't…demons. They weren't monsters. They were…just frickin' people."

"Yeah, well, like I said, people are sick." Dean declared, "Almost makes you glad you're not one of us anymore, doesn't it?"

Over by the Ghostfacers van a few feet away from the Winchesters, Ed and Harry were talking.

"S-so…are we cool?" Ed asked.

"I don't think we ever will be." Harry informed him.

"I mean, you know, we made it right." Ed reasoned desperately, "This could be out shot to start the old Ghostfacers again."

"I came here to finish this thing with Thinman." Harry declared, "I wasn't just closing a chapter, Ed. It was the whole dang book.

"But you came with me- "Ed began.

"Because we had to stop them, Ed." Harry explained, "Too many people have died cause of you crap."

"I've done all this crap for us." Ed insisted, "I-I don't know why you don't see that."

"No." Harried denied firmly, "No. You did this for you."

Neither of them noticed Sam and Dean listening in over by the Impala.

"There's a lot of things I could forgive, Ed, but this isn't one of them." Harry declared.

"So, what does this mean about us?" Ed asked.

"It means…it's complicated." Harry finished, before walking away, Ed staring at him.

Harry walked up to the Winchesters. "Can I get a ride from you guys?"

"Yeah, sure." Dean said, feeling sorry for Harry.

They all got in the van and drove away, leaving Ed standing by the Ghostfacers van with tears in his eyes.

For the trio of men, the ride back was quiet and awkward. At last, looking back at their passenger in the rearview mirror, Dean asked, "Harry, you okay?"

"Yeah." Harry replied, "I mean, no. You roll with a guy so many years, you start to think he's always gonna be next to you. Like, when you're old and you're drinking on the porch, he'll be in that other rocking chair. And then something happens, and you realize that other hair has gone empty."

Dean glanced over to Sam, who had this look on his face, like maybe this line of conversation didn't just apply to Harry and Ed, even if the context was different.

"You know what I mean?" Harry continued.

After they dropped Harry off with some nearby family, Sam and Dean headed back to the bunker were greeted at the door by Cas, wearing a grave look on his face.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, immediately recognizing that something was wrong.

"I'll explain on the way down." Cas replied.

When they got to the main room, they found a very frightened Hannah surrounded by the others.

"Seriously, guys?" Dean asked, "All this isn't necessary, no wonder the poor girl's freaked out." He looked over to Trans and asked, "How'd you let this get out of hand?"

"Well, we weren't entirely sure she wasn't going to go running to tell the others." Linda justified, "You know how excitable angels can be."

All the angels exchange glances. "What does that mean?" Gadreel asked.

"You see?" Linda responded.

Everyone was quiet for a moment than Sam said, "Okay, here's what we're gonna do." Then he sat down next to Hanna, who flinched. "Look, Hannah, you get that Tirzah is just a normal, innocent, human, baby, right? You understand that?"

"I now, yes." Hannah answered.

"And you also understand the danger she would be in if anyone else found out about her?" Sam continued.

Hannah nodded.

"And you don't want to see an innocent baby hurt, do you?" Sam asked.

"No." Hannah replied indubitably.

"Sam, where are you going with this?" Dean asked.

"I think that since she knows what's at stake, Hannah can be trusted to keep it a secret." Sam explained, "Isn't that right, Hannah?"

"Yes." Hannah answered, "I promise, I won't tell the others. I won't tell anyone, sir."

"You don't have to call me, sir." Sam reminded her, "Now, if I remember right, Cas said you had something you wanted to show me."


	63. The Most Dangerous Mission

"I found these in Magnus' notes." Hannah explained, pulling out several pieces of old parchment and giving it to Sam, "They regard the three tablets. While they didn't have them, apparently the Men of Letters knew of their existence."

Sam's heart plummeted into his stomach. They never told the others about giving the tablets to Metatron, because, well, he didn't even have the angel army when he did that. He flipped through the pages, and saw some marked in pink. "Mangus used pink highlighter?"

"No, that was me." Hannah admitted, her eyes downcast, "I know I probably shouldn't have, but, that part particularly important."

"You did good, kid." Dean praised.

Sam began to read over the notes, saying out loud, "It says here, that the energy from the tablets can be theoretically harnessed to enhance one power…oh, God."

"What?" Dean asked, then it dawned on, "Oh, God."

"What's wrong?" Hannah asked, "You have the tablets, don't you? That was my understanding."

Sam, Dean and Castiel exchanged looks. "We need to tell her." Cas declared.

And so, they explained to Hannah what had happened with Metatron and the inside job, the hit on Kevin and why they know longer had the tablets.

Perhaps understandably, she was a little upset.

"How could you do that?!" Hannah exclaimed, "Why would you give such powerful items to someone you're fighting against?!"

"It was the only way to save Kevin." Sam insisted.

"Yeah, isn't supposed to be a big thing with you?" Dean added in, "Protecting the Prophet?"

"Which you're not all that good at, by the way." Kevin commented.

"Not helping guys." Sam snapped.

"Alright, I see your point there." Hannah admitted, "But then why keep it from all of us?"

"Well, we were dealing with it." Sam justified awkwardly.

"How?" Gadreel spoke up.

"Excuse me?" Dean responded, "I thought you were on our side."

"I am." Gadreel assured him, "But, we haven't exactly been doing a lot to get the Tablets back. Unless there's something I don't know about."

"Well, we were gonna, but this crazy train has taken us in some unexpected directions, and it just got lost." Dean replied.

"Well, we're getting the train back on track." Sam vowed, "Right here, right now. Our next mission, find the Tablets."

"Well, okay, then." Dean beamed, then realized, "How are we gonna do that?"

"I don't know yet." Sam admitted, "But, Hannah, could you keep a lid on this at least until I figure it out?"

Hannah sighed. "Alright."

Two days later, Sam gathered the others, including Hannah now, back into the bunker.

"Okay." Sam began, "I think I found a way to get the Tablets back. Frist thing we need to do is get another mole in group."

Dean raised his hand in the air to ask a question.

"Yes, Dean." Sam acknowledged him.

"How are we gonna do that?" Dean asked, "We don't even know where he is."

"Well, we both have doors to Heaven, right?" Sam reminded them.

Everyone nodded.

"Well, that means, the door has to open somewhere." Sam reasoned, "We just need someone to find it, and knock."

Everyone exchanged looks. "Sam, I'm not entirely sure about the viability of this plan." Cas told him.

"Nor am I." Rebecca added.

"Cone one guys, I know it's a stretch." Sam admitted, "And it'll be dangerous, but I'm thinking if someone goes in as a defector, he might jump at the chance to get information on our operations."

"Which they might decide to just torture out of whoever goes." Muriel pointed out.

"I know, and I know it's a risk." Sam replied, "But we're going to take every precaution we can. We're gonna put a tracker on the mole, and get back up there as soon as possible. And the meantime, if they can, I'm gonna need them to look for the tablets."

"And if they can't find them?" Hannah asked.

"That's also what the back-up's for." Sam responded, then he picked up a handful of straws and said, "Now, since this is the most dangerous thing we've ever done, this seemed to work last time, so…"

"I'll do it." Hannah blurted out.

All eyes suddenly turned to her.

"Hannah," Sam began, "This- "

"I was the one that brought it up." Hannah reasoned, "I should be the one to do it."

"That is horrible logic." Dean told her.

"He'll suspect something if half of the angels here do it." Hannah replied, "But he has no clue who I am. I'm no one important."

"And some random nobody showing up in Haven _isn't_ going to raise suspicion?" Dean questioned.

"Dean!" Cas interjected.

"Well, it's not like we're not all thinking it." Dean snapped back, "I mean, I'm clearly not the only one who thinks this is a shoddy plan."

"But it's the only one we have." Hael spoke up.

Two days later, after all the preparations were complete, Sam, Dean, Castiel and Hannah walked to their door, where Asaeriel were waiting for them.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Asaerial asked them.

"No," Sam replied, "No, I am not."

"In fact, I'm pretty sure this is a _bad_ idea." Dean commented.

Cas cleared his throat and gestured with his head to Hannah, who understandably looked absolutely terrified.

"You know, you don't have to do this." Dean told her, "We can find someone else."

"No." Hannah insisted, "No, I'll do it."

"You're sure?" Sam asked.

"Yes." Hannah said, her voice unwavering.

"You can do this." Cas assured her.

Hannah then looked at the only other female angel there. "Asaerial, open the door."


	64. The Office

Hannah slowly took a step forward, then another, each one taking the breath out of her for some reason. _Get it together, Hannah!_ She scolded herself, _everyone is counting on you. Sure, it's dangerous, but you knew that when you volunteered. So, just pull yourself together and walk faster!_

She hurried her pace, trying to figure out which door to go through. Some of them were obviously people's individual Heavens, others she had to actually look to see what they were. For someone who had followed the rules all her life (a rather long one at that) this was a little hard for her.

As she went to open yet another door, when suddenly she felt two hands roughly grab her shoulders. Before she could do anything to stop it, she was turned around and was staring into pair of curl glittering stone-colored eyes. The same eyes that had almost killed her a few weeks before. She didn't even know angels could get nauseous, but she felt like she was going to puke.

"You're in a lot of trouble, missy." The male angel informed her, "How did you get her anyways?"

"Through a door." Hannah replied, "Sam Winchester's door."

The angel chuckled. "You ain't too bright, are you, sweetheart?"

"This was the only thing I could think could think to defect!" Hannah exclaimed as he pulled out an angel blade.

The angel lowered his blade. "Defect?"  
"I have information." Hannah tried, "Information that made me want to change, information I thought your boss would want to know."

"What kind of information?" The angel questioned.

"I'll only talk to him." Hannah insisted, "It's that big." She knew that making such a demand was risky, but it was the only she thing she could think of to get where she needed to go.

The angel huffed. "Alright, come on." Then he roughly grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her down the hall.

After a while of walking, they came to a door she had never seen before. The angel opened it and suddenly they were engulfed in a bright light. Suddenly the pair were standing in a parking lot, a well-dressed man staring at them.

"Where's Metatron?" The angel holding Hannah demanded.

"I don't know." The well-dressed angel replied, "Who's she?"

"I don't know." The other angel repeated, dragging Hannah away.

Of course, he wouldn't remember almost killing her. Of course, he didn't remember killing her friends. He had slaughtered hundreds of angels. They were nothing to him.

Hannah found herself being dragged into some kind of office building, then onto an elevator. Her captor hit a button labeled "3" then they stood in awkward silence. When the doors opened again she was dragged to end of yet another hall, before the male angel thrush the door open, revealing a somewhat gaudy office area, thrusting Hannah inside.

"Wait here." The male angel ordered, sounding annoyed before slamming the door.

Hannah took a minute to examine her surroundings. There didn't appear to be any warding, or anything else that could keep an angel trapped. There was, however, there were two sets of wooden shelves filled with books, and at the center was a desk with a type writer on it.

Hannah ran to the nearest shelves and started throwing books off, looking through the ones that were theoretically big enough to hold a tablet. When her search proved fruitless she tossed the shelve over and started tearing into the wall thinking they could be hidden in there. Hearing a noise, she froze, slowly turning around. When no one came in, she ran to the other bookshelf.

She repeated the process, throwing books, and pieces of broken shelves and dry wall everywhere, still, she found nothing. She let out am anguished groan of frustration before turned to the desk. Even in her frantic state, she had the good sense to check under the typewriter first.

And under the type writer, just sitting on the table, were the tablets.

At that moment they were the most beautiful things Hannah had ever seen. She reached out and gently ran her finger along the angel tablet on top. Then she quickly scoped them up and ran for the door.

However just before she reached it, it opened, revealing both the male angel that found her and the man himself.

"Well." Metatron said, "You certainly made a mess, didn't you?"


	65. Turned Into A What?

"Take care of her, will you?" Metatron ordered the other angel, who began marching towards Hannah with a malicious gleam in his eyes. Almost like he enjoyed the killing. Maybe he did.

Hannah covered herself with her arms trying to defend herself even without a weapon, when suddenly there was someone in front of her, blocking the blow from her attacker.

Sam, his own blade in hand, stabbed another angel, sending him to ground, dead, then turned around to look at Hannah. "Are you okay?"

Hannah nodded, then revealed the tablets still in her arms.

"Good girl." Sam said, but then he felt a slight prick in his back. He reached back and pulled out an angel blade. "What the Hell?"

He turned around and saw a rather frustrated Metatron staring at him. "Seriously?" The ex-scribe of God exclaimed, "That was supposed to be a fatal blow."

"I guess you're not a very good shot." Sam retorted, healing his back.

Seizing the opportunity while Sam was distracted, Metatron reached out and pulled the blade from Sam's hand.

"No!" Hannah shouted, only to be hit with such force it through her to the floor.

"I'll deal with you in a minute." Metatron said, before stabbing Sam in the heart only to find himself unable to penetrate the skin and for Sam to be fairly unharmed. "What the- "Metatron began, then stabbed Sam again, only for it to still have little if any effect. He tried again, same thing. He tried three more time, empathizing the blow with the word, "Why?! Aren't?! You?! Dying?!"

Sam managed to push him away, quickly heal what little wound there was, then grab Hannah with one hand and Metatron with the other and take off.

They landed in an uncorrelated pile in front of the bunker. The first thing Sam did was pull Hannah to her feet, asking, "Are you alright?"

Hannah nodded. "I got them." She said.

"Alright." Sam began, "Why don't I take these?" Then he picked up the blade and handed it to her, continuing, "And you take this and make sure he doesn't go anywhere while I get us some help, alright?"

Hannah grabbed the blade from him and pointed it at Metatron while Sam started banging on the door.

"Dean!" Sam yelled, "Dean! Cas! Anybody really! Need some help out here!"

The door opened, revealing Dean, Castiel and Hael. "Is that- "Dean began.

"Yeah." Sam answered, "Help me get him to the dungeon?"

"Oh, yeah." Dean said, pulling Metatron off the ground.

"You have a dungeon?" Hannah asked.

"Due to the way you said that I would like to remind you that Heaven apparently has a jail." Sam replied, walking up to her, "Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

"What does that- "Hannah began, as Sam handed the tablets back to her.

"Someone will explain it to you later." Sam replied, grabbing onto to Metatron, "Just go to Cas, okay?"

Hannah nodded, going over to Castiel who ushered her inside. "Do you know what that means?" She asked him.

"I'm sure we can look it up when things die down." Cas assured her.

The brothers wasted no time securing Metatron to a chair in the dungeon. "Alright." Sam said, grabbing a blade from the wall, "You're gonna answer a few questions for us." He put the tip of the blade to Metatron's cheek, "Starting with how to work those tablets."

"Seriously?" Metatron responded, "After what I saw you don't even _need_ those."

Dean turned to Sam. "What does he mean what he saw?"

"I mean, I stabbed him fatally serval times- "Metatron began.

"You what?!" Dean exclaimed, going for a blade.

"Relax!" Metatron exclaimed, "I clearly didn't kill him! But I don't know how I didn't, the last time I saw anything like this was—" His eyes widened as his voice trailed off, "No! Just no, alright?! I can buy the whole human turning into angel thing, maybe, but I refuse to believe the blood freak turned into an archangel!"

It took a moment for the brothers to process that statement, then they exchanged shocked looks, then turned back to Metatron.

"Turned into a what?" They both asked simultaneously.


	66. Now What?

"An archangel." Metatron repeated, "But…that's impossible."

"Well, so was him being an angel into eight months ago." Dean pointed out.

Metatron shrugged, and nodded.

"Are you actually having a casual conversation about this with him?!" Sam balked, before turning to Metatron, "How am I am archangel?!"

"How should I know?!" Metatron exclaimed, "I'm still trying to figure out how you turned into a normal angel! This-this is just wrong!"

"Really?" Dean responded, "We're getting moral judgements from the guy who expelled all the angels from Heaven, unleashed them on an unsuspecting world, and kills anyone who doesn't want to go along with his plan?"

"I didn't mean it like _that._ " Metatron argued, "Though now that you mention it…"

Dean made a move to stab Metatron with the blade, but Sam held him back. "Wait. We still need him."

"For what?" Dean demanded, "He clearly doesn't know anything about this archangel thing."

"Yes, but he might know something about his plans since, you know, he's the one who planned it." Sam pointed out.

"Good point." Dean admitted.

"But when this is all over, you can stab him as much as you want, okay?" Sam offered.

"Alright." Dean said, walking up with Sam, promising Metatron, "I'll deal with you later."

And with that they left, leaving Metatron to figure out what the Hell was going on.

They gathered everyone in the main area of the bunker, deciding to get out ahead of this and hopefully get some help figuring this out.

Needless to say, they got some mixed reactions.

"H-How—How is that possible?" Castiel asked.

"We don't know." Sam admitted, "For we all know, Metatron could've been lying, or wrong—"

"If I may be so bold, if he was lying or wrong, you'd be dead." Hannah spoke up, then immediately winced.

 _What was that?_ Sam thought, then, seeing as it was Hannah who still hasn't completely shaken off the old demonstrations of submission usually expected by her superiors, shrugged it off, saying, "Okay, I admit, that was weird b-but, aren't archangel's reality-wrappers? I haven't been able to do anything like that."

There was a moment of something, then Linda spoke up, "Well, there's got to be some way to test it. I mean, you've never needed to—warp reality before, so maybe if we tested it on something."

"Okay." Sam responded, "So, any ideas how we test it?"

Once again there was silence, and what's more, none of the angels, not even Cas, would look him in the eye.

Suddenly, Sam thought he knew what was going on. "Look, guys, A, we don't know for sure that I even _am_ an archangel, B, even if I am, I'm still me."

"He can just blow up any of us who pisses him off." Dean grumbled.

Sam shot him a bitchface, thinking, _Yeah, Dean that's really not helping._ Then he addressed the group, "Really, any ideas, I'm happy to entertain it."

Cas pulled his wallet out of his wallet, and sat it on the table. "Try to transform this. It seems a good place to start as any. Respectfully."

"Eh tu, Cas?" Sam asked, then focused on the slim leather fold. Even if can transform it, what should he transform it into? Not knowing what else, he pictured a mug in his mind.

Suddenly, the wallet began to ship and formed into a dark-colored mug.

"Oh my God." Sam gapped, unable to believe what he just did.

"Ah, I think you owe Cas a new wallet." Kevin commented. When that earned him a harsh look for Hael, he added, "What? He does."

"Well, I guess you really are an archangel, Sammy." Dean grinned, in spite of the situation.

"Alright." Sam breathed, still in shock, "So now what?"


	67. Archangel Training

"What do you mean, now what?" Muriel spoke up, "Now we tell the others."

"This makes you the rightful leader of all the Heavenly Host." Hannah added, "Once word gets out, they'll all unite under you."

"It makes me…what?" Sam responded, stunned, as this had never occurred to him.

"I'm sorry, Sam, but she's right." Rebecca informed, "Stepping down's not an option anymore."

Everyone exchanged surprised, confused looks. "What?" Abner asked.

Sam was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Look, I hadn't told anyone outside of Rebecca what I was going to do, but I was planning on stepping down once we got everyone back to Heaven."

"And just let us fall back to anarchy?!" Hagar challenged, then her eyes widened and she held Tirzah closer to her chest protectively.

"It wouldn't be like that." Sam assured her, "You can govern yourselves."

"Ah, yeah," Linda commented, "I don't think that was ever going to work."

Everyone shot her a look.

"I'm sorry, but look at your track record." Linda explained, " That makes me have a lot less faith in you than Sam apparently does."

"With all due respect, Samuel." Castiel spoke up, "If we can't find some way to prove it to all the others, this might be academic."

Cas' word threw Sam. _With all due respect? Samuel?_

However, before Sam could set him straight again, Dean asked, "How do you figure?"

"Well, as you have pointed out this is an incredible thing." Cas reasoned, "He will have to show his power to prove he is in fact an archangel."

"Alright, how do we do that?" Dean asked.

"Ideally a display of power." Cas elaborated, "Something bigger than the mug."

"I don't even know how I did the mug!" Sam exclaimed, understandably becoming overwhelmed, "How and I suppose to do something _bigger_?"

Dean put a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder. "With our help." He looked out the crowd, "Right guys?"

The others nodded apprehensively.

The next days were a whirlwind of going through the stacks to find anything could on archangels, and Sam trying to get control of his powers.

Sam looked at the shelves, focusing on them, trying to make something happen, only for nothing to happen, so he focused harder. Still nothing. He focused even harder and suddenly there was burst of energy, hitting the shelves, and starting Sam. "Ah!"

The burst hit the front shelves, causing it to topple over, hitting another, then other causing a chain-reaction of falling desk.

Sam sighed. _Great. Of course, I make another mess._

"Are even the bookshelves demon-possessed now?" A female voice asked behind him.

Sam whirled around and saw a certain Kitsune standing in from of him. "Margery." He said, smiling as she went end for a hug.

"Hey, Sam." Margery said, before pulling back, "Dean told me what happened. How are you holding up?"

"Honestly?" Sam replied, "I've been better."

"Hmm, being an extremely powerful nigh-omnipotent being's rough, huh?" Margery quipped.

"When there's no one to show you how to use your powers it is." Sam responded, setting one of the desks upright, "Plus everybody's asking so weird around me."

"What do you mean?" Margery asked, picking up a handful of books and sitting them back on the shelves.

"The angels—they act all stiff around me." Sam explained, picking up another stack, "Formal. All, yes sir, no sir, none of them will look me in the eye. Not even Cas." If Sam was being honest, that one hurt the most. He expected it from the other angels, but he and Cas had been through a lot together. His species change shouldn't affect that.

"Well, have you tried to talking to them about it?" Margery suggested, "To Cas?" She had picked up that his behavior was particularly bothering Sam.

"Yeah, but they keep doing it." Sam explained, "It's engrained in them not to upset the chain of command. I was lucky they weren't like this when I was regular angel—or thought I was a regular angel, or whatever. Personally, I'm starting to miss the days when they all hated my guts."

"You might need to rethink that last part." Margery responded, "Just remember the rest of us are all here for you, okay?"

Sam wasn't sure that could help, but the declaration of support was somewhat comforting, "Okay. Thanks."

Later on, that week, Dean Winchester was awoken by the sound of screaming from his brother's room.

Dean immediately leapt from his bed, grabbing a shot gun and running towards the screaming. "Sam?!" He called out, racing towards his brother's room, "Sammy?!"

Dean froze as he entered the room, seeing Sam standing in front of the mirror with a freaked-outlook.

"What is it?" Dean demanded, "What's wrong?"

"My wings." Sam answered, still staring at the mirror.

"What, did you hurt them?" Dean asked, still concerned.

"There's six of them!" Sam exclaimed, spreading them out for Dean to see.

Realizing what Sam was trying to do, Dean reminded him, "Okay, Sam, I can't actually _see_ your wings, remember?"

"Right." Sam responded.

"Just-try to calm down, I'll go find someone who can to take a look at it." Dean said, before running from the room.

Dean came back with Cas, who carefully examined the new wings.

"So?" Dean asked, pacing the floor.

"He has six wings." Cas declared.

"Thanks for telling us what we already knew!" Sam exclaimed, understandably freaked out, causing Cas to shrink away. "Don't do that." Sam continued, "Please, please don't do that. I'm sorry I'm just—" Sam sighed, "Do you know _why_ I suddenly have four extra wings?"

"Because you're an archangel." Cas explained, "They all have six wings."

"Then why haven't I noticed these before now?" Sam questioned, "Why hasn't anyone noticed I had four extra wings before now?"

Cas was quiet for a minute. "I can't know for sure." He began finally, "But perhaps, since you were unware of the fact that you were an archangel until recently, that you, and everyone else was unable to see them."

"What?!" Dean balked, "That doesn't even make sense."

"Well, archangels can change matters, right?" Sam pointed out, "Well, maybe that has something to do with it." He looked to Cas for conformation or correction.

"I'm sorry Sam." Cas responded ducking his head down, "I can't know anything for sure. The only one who knows exactly what's going on here—isn't here."

"What, you mean God?" Dean asked.

Cas nodded sheepishly.

"Well, he _is_ the one who set up the Trails." Sam reasoned, "Set up the ending of the Trails. If anyone has an answer, it's Him."

"Yeah, well unfortunately He's not really available at the moment!" Dean responded, raising his hand in frustrated.

"Sam, if I may…" Cas began.

"No." Sam cut him, off maybe a little more harshly than he meant too, "Cas, no. Just stop."

Cas backed away, looking down, practically cowering.

Suddenly Sam was felt a debt pit in his stomach as his being filled with sadness. "Please stop that. Please."

Cas looked confused. "Stopped what?"

"Like I'm—like I'—" Sam fumbled to put his feelings into words, "Like I'm your superior."

"But Sam," Cas responded, "You _are_ my superior."

"And since when are you all big on submitting to superiors?" Dean added in, "I thought we broke you of that."

"And that worked out so well?" Cas countered.

"That wasn't me." Sam pointed out, "Cas, I don't need a subordinate, I don't _want_ a subordinate, I just want-no- _need_ my friend back."

Cas was quiet for a moment. He had no idea how much pain he had been causing Sam. "I didn't know." He said finally, "I'm sorry, and I'm saying this as your friend. I promise I'll try to go back before, at least in private. I might have to still act like—the way I've been acting in front of other angels, at least until the others can wrap their heads around your lax style of leading."

"Alright, I'll settle for that." Sam agreed, "Just give me a wink or something then, so I know we're still cool."

"Of course." Cas replied.

Sam leaned over and hugged Cas tightly. Castiel stood awkwardly without moving.

"Now's the part where you hug back." Sam instructed.

"Oh." Cas responded, moving to hug Sam back, "Right. Uh, sorry."

Sam chuckled. "Ah, there you go."

"Well, I guess there is one silver lining to your wings showing up." Dean grinned as he watched the embrace break.

"I don't think that's the only silver lining." Cas replied.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Now we have tangible proof you're an archangel." Cas explained, "At least to other angels."

Two days later, all the angels were gathered in front of Heaven's door. There was an impressive amount of them now and Sam suddenly wanted to turn and run away. Or fly away, either one would work.

"It's going to be fine." Dean assured him. He at Sam's right, with Cas on his left, walking up the road with the archangel, "You got this."

"We're both here for you." Cas added, "And so are the others."

"Thanks guys." Sam replied, stepping forward, then he began to address his troops, "A week and a half ago, there was a mission to retrieve the three Word of God Tablet, which, at the time were in Metatron's possession."

A worried murmur roses from the crowd.

"Don't worry, we got them back." Sam assured them, "But during this mission we made a discovery. I'm not entirely sure how to explain, but, ah, I think it would be better if I just showed you."

Sam slowly, carefully unfolded his dark wings, all six of them, causing a stunned, awed hush to fall over the crowd.

"Apparently." Sam replied, "I'm an archangel. We're not sure exactly how this escaped out attention until now, but at this point we believe I have been an archangel this whole time. Now, this changes nothing, but I felt that you had the right to know."

There was a moment of silence, but then, slowly, all the angels, sans Cas, went to their knees.

"No, no, no, no!" Sam exclaimed, "Stop that! No kneeling!"

"Yeah, I think this is going to be a work in progress." Dean commented.


	68. A Dark Alliance

Meanwhile, at Metatron's based, the angels were scattered, franticly looking for their leader.

"So, does anybody know what exactly happened?" The angel that had taken the lead, a woman who looked like a soccer mom with a slick blonde ponytail asked.

"No." The angel that had been guarding the door when Hannah was brought in admitted, "Samson took the female into Metatron's office, someone heard a commotion and when someone went to check, Samson was dead and they were gone."  
"Well, what do we do now?" Another angel spoke up, "How can we find them?"

"Perhaps I can be assistance." A male's voice said then a man in dark clothes with long black hair and black beard steeped out of the shadows.

The others pulled out their blades.

"Whoa!" Malachi exclaimed, raising his hands in the air, "I'm not here to fight. I'm literally offering my assistance in matter. Mine and my faction's."

The angels exchanged looks of disbelief. "Forgive us of if we doubt you." The soccer mom angel said coolly.

"I know you we've had our issue's in the past," Malachi understated, "But now we both have a very big problem."

"And what is that?" The soccer mom angel asked.

"Sam Winchester." Malachi replied, "He's one of the only remaining factions left, and his numbers are growing every day. Just this week I have three angels disappears and I'm pretty sure they went to him. And now I'm almost certain he's kidnapped your leader. Now, I a proposal that could help both of us."

The other angels exchanged looks. "We're listening." Soccer mom angel said.

"We but our resources together," Malachi began, "Get your leader back, assuming he isn't already dead, take out Sam Winchester, and give his followers a chance to join one of us or die. Then we go back to killing each other, business as usual."

The angels exchanged looks, then the soccer mom angel said, "We have a deal."

Malachi broke into a malicious grin. "Excellent."


	69. Vampires And Sneak Attacks

Sam had no clue of what Malachi and Metatron's forces was planning. At that point in time, he was rather engrossed in figuring out what to do with the Tablets.

Even imprisoned, Metatron was connected to their power, which meant it was only a matter of time before he used them to escape. But there had to be some way to disconnect it, there just had to be. Sam just couldn't find it. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Can't we just, I don't know break 'em?" Dean's voice said from behind him.

Sam turned around to see his brother standing in the entryway. "Hey," Sam greeted him, "Metatron give you anything?"

"Just a lot of back talk." Dean replied, walking towards Sam, "And his voice is _so_ annoying. I just—I needed a break. You?"

"Nothing." Sam answered, "And I don't think it's going to be a simple as breaking them. Thought at this point I just might try it."

"Yeah, it sounds like you could use a break too." Dean commented.

"Well, I got a crate of brains I need to drop off at Margery's." Sam responded, "I suppose we could both do that and regroup. She's probably off from work by now."

It turned out Margery was. "Hi, guys." She said, opening the door for them.

Before they could even get in a whirl of pink and brown came whirling at them, shouting, "Sam!" Suddenly Luda Mae hit Sam's leg.

"Hey there, Luda." Sam replied, running a hand through the girl's brunette curls.

"Hey, there, kid." Dean greeted her as well.

Realizing Sam hadn't come alone, Luda Mae let go of Sam and latched herself on the elder Winchester's leg.

"Okay there, kid, we missed you too." Dean commented, chuckling.

As they helped Margery put up the new batch of brains and she put the coffee on, she told them of their recent struggles.

"Can't you just—break the tablets?" Margery asked, bringing the cups over to them.

"That's what I told him." Dean replied, taking a sip.

"I suppose we could try." Sam replied, "But I'm not sure it'll work."

"We don't know if _anything_ will work." Dean pointed out, "But we have to try something."

"He's got a point, Sam." Margery agreed, "All things being equal, the simplest solution is usually the best."

Just then Dean's phone went off. He looked at it, then declaimed. "It's Jody, I should probably take this."

Margery and Sam gestured for him to do so.

Dean picked up. "Hey, Jody."

"Hey, Dean." The sheriff replied, "Listen, I got a problem here. One of my deputies was attacked by what I think is a vampire. I took care of it, but I could use some help figuring out exactly is going on here. Can you guys head down?"

"Be right there." Dean assured her, before hanging up.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked.

"Jody had some kind of run-in with a vampire." Dean answered, "Don't worry, it sounds like she's okay. Listen, you stay here, figure out some way to de-power Metatron, I'll go see what's up in Sioux Falls."

"Alright." Sam replied, "But give me a call if it you need help."

"Believe it or not we puny humans can handle some things." Dean joked, standing up, "But I will."

After they left Margery's Dean was driving to South Dakota, a tidal wave of thoughts running through his head. Everything was just happening so fast now, it was a lot for him to take in as well. His brother was a freaking _Archangel,_ they had their current archenemies in their basement, they had no way to defeat him. What if breaking the tablets didn't work. What if nothing worked?

That was how he didn't notice the other car coming at him from the side until it hit him.


	70. The Mark

A few hours later, Sam was standing up holding out the tablet above a table. _I can't believe I'm actually doing this._ He thought. He was about to let I fall when his phone went off. _Seriously?_ He thought, going for his phone, _Now._ Seeing it was Jody, he got concerned and picked it up. "Hey, Jody."

"Hey, Sam," Jody responded solemnly, "Is, ah, Dean with you?"

"No." Sam replied, "No, I had some—things I have to deal with, so he went on his own. Why?"

"Sam," Jody began, "He never made it. And I can't get him on his phone."

Meanwhile, Dean was slowly regaining coconsciousness. He looked up and found himself in a dimly lit, concreate room. "What the Hell?" He wondered aloud, slowly getting to his feet. There were no windows, and only one door. And the whole place was covered with warding, so no way Sam was getting in. He went over to it and realized that there was no knob on that side of the door. _Great._ Dean thought, _Just great._

Suddenly the door opened and in was tossed another man with a wild dark dear draped in a long coat.

"Hey," Dean said, carefully approaching the man, "You got a name?"

"Cain." The man replied, seeming a bit on edge, which given the circumstances was understandable.

 _Man, his parents were awful._ Dean thought, but out loud began, "I'm—"

"Dean Winchester." Cain cut him off, "Oh, I've heard you."

"Huh?" Dean responded, starting to feel even more nervous.

"See, I'm _the_ Cain." The man explained.

"Wait, as in the first murderer?" Dean asked, "The guy me and my brother are supposed to be descended from?"

"Yes." Cain admitted.

For a moment Dean was distracted from the situation at hand. "Wait, shouldn't you be dead?"

"There's a good reason for that." Cain said, then blinked, revealing black eyes.

Dean went for the knife, which he still carried around just in case, only to find it gone.

"You won't find what you're looking for." Cain informed him, "They already thought to take it from you."

"And who exactly are they?" Dean asked.

"I'm a little sketchy on all the details." Cain admitted, "But basically, a band of angels with a severe complexity addiction."

"Of course." Dean sighed, "So, what, are we supposed to fight this out?"

"Not exactly." Cain replied, then looking the hunter continued gravely, "Dean, someone within this structure, there is a girl being held against her will, just because of who she's related to. She's only 12. Unless we both do what, they say, they will kill her."

Dean paused a moment, letting that sink in. None of this made any sense. Well, part of it made sense, they were obviously trying to get to Sam, but why recruit Cain? Who was this girl? Did she even exist? Could Dean take that chance? At last he asked, "Well, what do they want us to do?"

Cain rolled up his sleeve revealing a mark of three bars on this arm. "This is the Mark of Cain." He explained, "You might have heard of it."

"Yeah, so have all the Biblically literate people of the world." Dean replied, "Why?"

"Let's just the Bible gets some things wrong in that particular story." Cain responded solemnly, "But let's just focus on one for now. The mark can be transferred to someone who is worthy. You are one of those people. They want you to take it."

"Why?" Dean asked, as he knew this could lead to nowhere good.

"Like I said, complexity addiction." Cain replied, "So?"

Dena paused again, can't believing he was actually considering this. "There's a little girl's life at stake?"

"Yes." Cain confirmed.

"And is the whole place warded like this?" Dean asked, hoping that all Sam would have to do was get the door open and then they could just simply walk out of the room.

"I'm afraid so." Cain answered, "Your brother's no getting in here."

"How did you- "Dean began.

"A human turn into an angel, word gets around." Cain explained.

 _He's a little more than that._ Dean thought. There was every chance Sam could get through the warding. But then he thought about that kid, scared and alone, surrounded by angels who would think nothing about ending her. He couldn't chance it. "Well then," Dean began, "What do I do?"

"Give me your hand." Cain instructed.

Dean did and suddenly he was felt with this awful power, like a surge if energy and anger all at once. Then the Mark was on his arm.

As the feelings faded, Dean asked, "So what now?"

As if to answer their question, the door slowly opened.


	71. The Transformation

"So, they just want us to—go out there?" Dean asked.

"I guess." Cain replied, "I really know as much as you do, I was forced into this as well."

This took Dean somewhat by surprise. "How?"

"That person the girl's related too," Cain began, "Was someone I cared deeply about. You could even say loved."

"Oh." Dean said, slowly stepping out of the door as he began to pray. _Listen, Sam, I gotta problem. I was attacked on the way to Jody's and now I've been kidnapped and this kid's been kidnapped, and there's warding everywhere so I don't even know if I can even get in, but if you can, and if you can fine me I could use a little help here._

Sam was at the last spot where anyone had seen Dean when the prayer came in. Immediately he took off.

Dean and Cain stealthily moved down the hall together. "Do you have any idea where they're holding the girl?" Dean asked, "Or, you know, her name?"

"Eudora Mullen, friends call her Dory." Cain answered, "As for where she'd being held, I don't know."

"Great." Dean said, taking another stepped forward. _We're unarmed, have no clue where we are, how many angels are here, and I don't know if my brother can get here or not. That's just great._

Suddenly there was the found of wing flaps behind them causing both of them to turn around and see Sam.

"How- "Cain began.

"My brother's not your ordinary angel." Dean explained.

"Jody told me you never made it and I found the Impala." Sam declared, "Dean what happened?" It was then that Sam realized something wasn't right. He was looking at Dean and suddenly he felt sick. Like he was in the presence of something evil.

"I'm not sure," Dean was saying, "One minute I'm driving, the next thing—other car runs into me and I wake up—" His voice trailed off as Sam grabbed his arm, "Ah, Sam? What are you doing?"

"Something's wrong with you?" Sam declared, pulling up the sleeve, revealing the Mark. "Dean, what have you done?! What is that?!"

"Now, don't panic." Dean began, "But that over there is Cain, like _the_ Cain, and this is the Mark of Cain and to save a hostage I had to let him put it on me."

"What?!" Sam exclaimed, "Dean, you have no idea what that is, and you just agree to put it on your body?! Hell, to me, it feels like just plain darkness." He started fingering the Mark, the pit in his stomach becoming larger."

Before Dean could answer, there was the sound of sobbing from down the hall. "Come on." Dean said, running that way. Sam flew ahead of them.

In the room where the noise was coming from, a girl in a red-and-blue school uniform, her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail was on her knees, sobbing, as man in kakis and a checkered shirt paced the floor.

"Quit it!" The angel snapped at her, "That's not helping anything."

"Please just let go." Eudora Mullen sobbed, "It won't tell anyone, I promise."

The male angel's look softened. "This'll all be over soon." He told her, "I promise." He leaned down, intending to render her unconscious again, when he heard the familiar sound of wings behind him. Surprised he turned around and saw Sam Winchester. "That's impossible." He gapped.

"Apparently not." Sam shot back, grabbing the angel's head and smiting it, causing the terrified child to sob harder.

As the body dropped Sam ran over to her. "Hey," Sam said gently, "Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. What's your name?"

The girl kept crying.

"I'm Sam." He tried hopping it would get him a bit of trust.

"Dory." She finally sniffled.

"Well, Dory." Sam responded, scooping her up, "Let's get you out of here, okay? I just need to get a couple more people."

Meanwhile, Dean and Cain were still running down the hall, when suddenly a group of four angel charged them from the right hall.

"I take the two on the left you take the two on the right?" Dean suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Cain agreed, charging his two attackers, grabbing the blade from one of them. He fatally stabbed one then the other.

Dean managed to do the same with his first one, but then he felt a sharp pain run through him as the other ran a blade into his back, creating a fatal wound. He fell to the ground, struggling to breathe. _Sam,_ He managed to pray, _you need to get here. Now._

Cain stabbed the last angel then knelt down I front of Dean. "I'm sorry, Dean Winchester." He said remorsefully, as Dean shut his eyes, "But this isn't the end."

Sam landed, seeing Cain standing in front of his brother's body. "What happened?!" He demanded, setting Dory down and running to his brother.

"An angel got him." Cain explained, "Sam there's something you need to know." As Sam started to heal with brother, Cain gently pulled him back, saying, "That won't be necessary, Sam." Then he shook Dean's shoulder saying firmly, "Dean, wake up. Let's get this over with."

Dean slowly opened his eyes revealing them to be a shiny, blank, soulless black.


	72. Breaking Points

"What the Hell?!" Sam exclaimed, as Dean sat upright.

"Wh-what happened?" Dean asked, looking around, his eyes still black, "Why do I feel—different?" Dean couldn't really describe how he was feeling, but he knew, something wasn't right.

"Dean…" Sam began, not believing what he was about to say, "You're a demon."

"I'm a…a what?" Dean balked, believing he had heard wrong. He _had_ to have heard wrong.

"I'm sorry, Dean, but it's true." Cain added, "That's what happens when you die while bearing the Mark. I learned that the hard way."

"The—that what?" Dory asked, reminding everyone that she was still there.

"Alright." Sam began, "Let's get the girl out of here, then we'll figure this out." _Somehow._

He grabbed Dory's arm with one hand and Cain and Dean with the other, then took off.

The moment they touched down Sam dragged both demons and the girl into the bunker. "Alright, I want explanations, now." He practically growled, "For starters, how did my brother turn into a demon?!"

"I can't explain it." Cain answered, "I just know that is what happens when those who bear the Mark die. I found this out when I had enough and tried to kill myself. Instead of going to whatever afterlife I was meant to, I woke up an instant demon."

That was when Dory had finally had enough. "What are you talking about?!" She demanded, starting to cry again, "What is going on?!"

Momentarily distracted, Sam crouch down so she was about as tall as Dory was. "It's rather complicated." Sam began," But I'm an angel. An Archangel in fact. Dean is my brother, and—until five minutes ago he was human and that guy there's a demon."

"Demons?" Dory repeated, "I was kidnapped my demons?"

"Actually, you kidnapped by angels." Sam replied, not sure if he was doing the right thing but feeling she had the right to know at this point, "You see, there's sort of this—this war over who's running Heaven, and the other side took Dean to get to me and—I actually don't know how you fit into all this, I'm sorry."

"I actually have an answer to that," Cain spoke up soberly. "Years ago, back in the 1880s, I met a woman named Collette Mullen. She knew who I was…and what I was. She loved me unconditionally. She forgave me. She only asked for one thing and that was for me to stop the killing. So, I did. When the Knights of Hell, the Knights I created, found out about us they took retribution. They took Collette so I picked up the first blade and I slaughtered them all."

"I thought the Archangels killed the Knights of Hell." Dean cut in.

"They did take credit for it, yes." Cain replied, "And I wasn't want to own up to it."

"And Abaddon?" Sam asked, "Why didn't you kill her?"

"She got away." Cain answered, "But not before killing Collette. With her last breath Collette made me promise not to seek revenge, to be good, and I have kept that promise for hundreds of years. And then some idiot angels go and grab Collette's great-great grandniece…"

"Oh my God." Dory moaned.

Realizing this is was all getting to be too much for her, and understandably so, plus he didn't want her in here for what was going to happen to happen next, Sam said, "Listen, Dory, the kitchen's that way." he pointed in the direction of the kitchen, "Why don't you head that way, help yourself to anything you want and I'll find someone to call your parents, but I need to talk about something else with these guys, okay?"

"Okay." Dory replied, slowly walking away.

As she walked by him, Dean step forward. "Want me to show you the way?"

"No, thanks." Dory declined, hurrying her pace.

"Okay, now that that's taken care of," Sam said, his anger coming through now as he grabbed Cain's arm, "You and me are going to have a little talk in private."

"Hey," Dean called out, "What about me?" He was starting to come out of his shock, and now he wanted answers as much as Sam did.

"Just stay here." Sam instructed, "Don't worry, Dean, we'll figure this out. We already know how to fix this, I just need to figure why this happened."

"I already told you, Sam," Cain said while he was dragged down to the dungeon, "I don't know why the Mark causes a demonic transformation upon death. Just that it does."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Sam shouted, tossing him in the dungeon, "Why the Hell didn't you let me heal him?!"

"Let you heal who?" A by now all too familiar voice called out, reminding Sam they weren't exactly alone.

 _We need a bigger dungeon._ Sam though as he marched over to Metatron and ripped the chair he was strapped down to from the floor.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Metatron protested, "Easy there!"

Not in the mood to deal with him, Sam grabbed a cleaning cloth that was lying on a table and stuffed it in the ex-scribe's mouth, before setting him outside the dungeon and slamming the door, before turning back to Cain.

"So, you are strong." Cain noted, "Well, I've already seen that. How did you get through those wards, anyway? I was told that angels couldn't fly into that room."

Sam's fists clenched, turning and looking at Cain with malice. "I'm an _arch_ angel." He snarled. He normally didn't like showing off his power, but he wanted to make a point, to make Cain fear him. Heavenly light filled the room showing the shadows of the six wings that marked Sam as an archangel flared up in anger.

Cain raised his eyebrows, impressed. "So, you finished the Trails of Hell, God strapped some angel wings on your back, and you just went on with your merry life."

"There isn't anything _merry_ about this, Cain!" He spat out the name with distaste, "Why's you let my brother turn into a demon?! I could have healed him! Anything but this!"

"By the time you got there your brother had already died." Cain informed him ruefully, "And the transformation had already taken place. He was not dead or dying, but asleep. There was nothing that even you could do. I'm sorry."

Sam just stood there for a few moments, his chest heaving. At last he said, "Well, if there's nothing you can do to help I think you should go."

As Sam lead Cain back to the door and through the main area the bunker, Sam called out, "Hey, Dean, I just need a minute to deal with Cain and Dory, then I'll get some blood and we can…" His voice trailed off when he realized Dean wasn't there. "Dean?"

He stepped into the room, his head on a swivel. "Dean!" He called out again. That was when he saw a piece of paper on one of the tables. He picked it up and read four words that made his blood run cold:

 _Sammy, let me go._

 **AN: Sorry for another cliffhanger. Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!**


	73. Demon Hunt

Margery stopped the car next to the curb, then eyed the girl in the review mirror. "Hey," She said, causing the girl to look up, "Is this it?"

"Yeah." Dory confirmed, "So, do I just go in?"

"Yeah." Margery answered, trying not sound apprehensive. But she couldn't help it, she had no clue what she was doing!

"Can you…can you come in with me?" Dory asked.

"Sorry, honey, but that's not the best idea," Margery replied, "But I'll watch, make sure you get in alright, okay?"

"Okay." Dory replied, unbuckling the seatbelt.

"And you remember what you're going to tell them?" Margery asked.

"That I was pulled into a van, but the door came open and I was able to get away." Dory recapped, "I didn't get a good look at who took me."

"Good girl." Margery praised as the girl got out of the van.

Margery watched as the girl walked up the driveway and knocked on the door. The door was opened by a very distressed-looking man and women and Margery could see a uniformed officer in the living room. The man and women scooped the girl up and ushered her inside.

Satisfied that Dory was safe, Margery pulled out her cellphone and made a call. "It's done."

"Thanks, Margery." Sam responded on the other end, pulling spell off of the shelves.

"No problem." Margery, assured him, "I saw a cop when she went in, so I'm gonna watch for a couple of minutes, make sure we don't have an issue. You got a lead on Dean yet?"

"No," Sam replied, his frustration showing through as he threw a book on the ground.

"Is Cas coming back down to help?" Margery asked, trying to figure exactly what resources her friend had at his disposal.

"The situation with Jody got a little complicated." Sam explained, "But he's coming down as soon as he can."

"What about the others?" Margery asked, "Do they know what's going on?"

"I'd rather they didn't." Sam answered, "They won't spilt hairs over the fact that he was a human. They'll kill him on sight."

"Not if you order them not to." Margery countered, "Sam, even you can't handle this alone. If you start dividing up search parties, you'll be able cover more down and find Dean before he does something stupid."

Taking her advice, Sam put the book he was looking at down and called for meeting over angel radio.

When everyone was gathered he told them the story of what happened with Dean, and what he wanted them to do.

"I want him taken alive." Sam finished, "We've recently discovered away to cure a demon, I see no reason why it wouldn't work with him. However, if you do find him, be careful. I don't know what he's capable of in his state."

Meanwhile, Dean was walking down the road, not sure of where he was going. He could feel it creeping up in him. Evil impulses, his emotions slipping away. He had to fight, it somehow. There _had_ to be some way for him to fight it.

Just then a truck pulled up next to him. "Hey," A female voice called out to him. Dean turned around to see a girl in her late teens or early twenties, nut-brown skin with flowing onyx, dressed in a plaid shirt. "You need a ride?"

Dean smirked at the girl. "You bet, sweetheart."

The girl smiled at him and opened up the passenger for him to get in. "So, where are you headed?" She asked as he pulled himself up into her cab.

"Anywhere but here." Dean declared as they drove away.

After a few moments, the girl spoke. "I'm Tracey, by the way."

"Dean." He replied.

"So, Dean, what were doing out on that road?" Tracey asked.

"What were _you_ doing out on that road?" Dean countered.

Tracey chuckled. "Fair enough. I'm, ah, coming back from a business trip."

Dean laughed. "What kind of business could you possibly have? Bake sale?"

Before Tracy could answer they ran over a pot whole, causing the car to shake and bump, and the glovebox to come open. A flash fell out, opening and pouring over Dean, and suddenly he felt a painful burning and steam came up from his legs. He turned to the girl, seething, his eyes black.

Tracey pulled the car over to the side and grabbed the flask, tossing more water at him and beginning an exorcism.

Before Tracy could finish, Dean punched her in the face, sending her across the car. She was still conscious, so he punched her again.

"It's a shame." He said, getting out the truck, "You were hot."

He ran as another car came up the road. It stopped and Hannah and another angel got out. "Go after him." She instructed, "We'll take care of her."

The angels remaining in the car, sped after Dean.

Dean race away was brought to an end when a car ran out in front of him, sending him to sudden stop. Hagar and angel he didn't recognize, quickly got out, running up and grabbing him.

"Hey!" Dean protested, fighting against his attackers. "What's the big idea?!"

"What's the big idea attacking a little girl like that?!" The male angel demanded.

"That was self-defense!" Dean exclaimed, throwing the angel off him, "And besides, I left her alive, didn't I ?!"

"Dean, we don't want to hurt you!" Hagar explained, "Just let it happen Dean! Let us take you!"

"To Hell with that!" Dean protested throwing her off with source force she hit the ground and actually hit her head, breaking the skin.

Dean just stared at her, at the blood pouring from her forehead. Apparently, he was so powerful he managed to injure an angel. And an angel he cared about. An angel with a child waiting on her.

"Hagar, I'm so sorry." Dean declared, "I didn't mean—"

Hagar looked him in the eye with a stony gaze. "If you're really sorry then you'll come with us willingly."

The ride back to the bunker was silent and awkward. When they stepped through the door Sam, Hannah, and Tracey were waiting for them, glaring.

Sam stepped up and grabbed his brother's arm. "Come on," He said, leading him away.

"So, what happens now?" Dean asked as Sam lead him to the dungeon.

Sam, opened the door and gestured for Dean to sit down in a new chair that had been placed in the dungeon.

"Now," Sam began, going over to a cooler and pulling out a bag of blood, "We fix this."


	74. The Wild Child

Meanwhile, things in Sioux Falls had gotten, as Sam had said, complicated.

It was raining when Castiel arrived, but there was a woman in a police officer's uniform standing beside a cruiser.

Cas pulled up by the cruiser and stepped out of his car. "You must be Sheriff Mills." He declared, as who else would she be?

"And you must be Castiel." Jody replied, "Any word on Dean?"

"Sam's got everyone looking for him." Cas answered, "In the meantime, I've been asked to help you with your—situation."

Jody opened his trunk, revealing a dead body with the head no longer attached to it.

Cas quickly looked to make sure no one was watching as Sam and Dean had taught him, before bending down and pressing a finger to the gum of the head's mouth. A vampire tooth pushed out.'

"You're correct." Cas declared, standing up, "This is a vampire, but it appears you have killed it."

"There's more where this came from." Jody informed him.

"More?" Cas asked.

"My men brought in a runaway last night." Jody explained, "There's no I.D. on her—nothing on her, actually, except for a bus ticket to Nebraska. Total Jane Doe. She won't even give me her name. Girl's basically feral. She's got zero manners, didn't even thank me for saving her. Anyhow, this thing went to plenty of trouble to get at her. And to hear him tell it, 'others' will want her at least as bad as he did."

"It sounds like a nest." Cas deuced.

"Nest?" Jody repeated, "I'm guess that's not half as cute and cozy as it sounds."

"No." Cas confirmed, "It's a group of vampires that live in hunt together. They usually live in abandoned places, like old barns or dilapidated buildings. Could I, uh, see the girl?"

Jody lead Cas to the jail room, where he did a fang check on a very sullen dark-haired girl.

"Agent Fisher?" The girl repeated the name he had given him, "If you're FBI, I'm Taylor Swift. That wasn't a dental I. D. It was a fang check. You're a hunter."

Neither confirming or denying her accusation, Cas informed her, "And you're alive because the two best hunters out there trained the sheriff, young lady. I think the first words out of your mouth should be a thank you. So, care to explain who you were to this vampire? Is there a nest?"

That was when Cas saw them. A series of half-moon scars in a circle shape, raised, as if they had been reopened repeatedly. He went in for a closer look, but the girl shrugged and raised her shirt collar to cover them. She did not want Cas seeing them.

Jody opened the door and popped her head in. "Sorry to interrupt. We got a match on her DNA"

The angel and sheriff regrouped in a hallway outside the cell room.

"Annie Jones." Jody christened the girl, showing Castiel the missing person's report, "Reported abducted outside Kenosha in '06. Raised by an elderly grandparent. No living kin. You think the vamps are the one who took her?"

"I don't know." Cas admitted, "That seems a long time to keep her alive and human. I hate to do this, but I think I might have to consult with Sam."

Cas put the speaker on as he called Sam. "Hey, Cas," Sam greeted, clearly in distressed, "I was actually wondering if I should call you."

"What's wrong?" Cas asked, picking up on it immediately.

Sam explained everything that had happened, leaving the sheriff and angel stunned, and obviously worried.

"Do I need to come back?" Cas asked, torn between his concern for Dean and his obligation to Jody.

"Depends." Sam responded, "Jody, do you think you can handle this on your own?"

"Probably." Jody said, "But Sam, I get that this is bad time—and that, that is a gross understatement, but we had something we needed to ask you."

When they finished explaining the story, Sam said, "Well, Cas is right. Eight years is a long time for a human to live with vampires without getting killed or turned.

"You're the expert, but there was something…familiar about the way this camp talked to her." Jody told him.

"Jody might be onto something." Cas added in, "Annie has scars on her neck, presumably from being fed on, and they're layered, as if they've been built on for years."

Sam was silent for a moment then said, "I think I know what's going on here. She's a blood slave. Me and Dean have seen it before—vampires keeping people as pets, human feedbags. Sometimes these slaves stay loyal to their captors."

"So…This girl's not talking cause she's got a case…what?" Jody asked, "Vampiric Stockholm Syndrome?"

"Basically." Sam confirmed, "She's protecting the nest. Cas, you better stay there and help. I'll call you when I find Dean."

"Or if you need any help." Cas ordered, deciding not to argue with Sam over staying, but insisted on this point.

"Okay," Sam conceded, "Good luck."

"You too." Cas said, before hanging up.

Castiel decided to go back into the integration room and reason with Annie and try to make her realize what had actually happened to her.

"So, you feel a debt." Cas began, "They gave you a home, raised you. Annie, I get it. Believe me, I do. Loyalty is a very powerful thing."

"My name is Alex." Annie insisted.

"No, it's not." Cas insisted right back at her, "Your name is Annie Jones. Those vampires stole you from your family. They're monsters, Annie."

"Alex." Annie repeated.

Cas decided to see if calling that would get her to work with them. "Alex, they didn't love you. They loved your blood. They fed on you." He gestured to her neck.

"I fed them." Alex tried to turn it around, "My choice. My brothers—they brought be food when I was hungry. So, when they struck out on a hunt, I fed them. They're my family."

"Okay, you care about them, but Alex…There's a reason you decided to run away." Cas pointed out.

"It was time…Time to move on and get out on my own." Alex offered for an explanation.

"And how do you think that decision is going to sit with the rest of the nest?" Cas reasoned, "One of them already pursued you. You think when the rest of them find out they're just going to shrug and cut their loses? You lived with them for years. They've tasted your blood. They have your sent down cold. I mean, how far can you run and how long?"

A single tear ran down Alex's face.

Cas' countence softened. "You didn't think this through, did you? Alex, there's going to find you. Your, uh, 'brother' already—"

"He's name Cody." Alex cut him off harshly, "And she killed him." The girl motioned to Jody who was looking on.

"Because of a choice you made." Cas snapped at her, "These are the consequences. You have two options—them or you. And we can help you. We can keep you safe. But you have to help us. Just tell me where the nest is."

"I can't." Alex replied, clearly afraid, "After what's happened…Mama finds me, she'll kill me."

Alex was crying from fear and Cas looked over for help.

Eventually he just reached out and patted the girl's hand. "There, there."

Still crying, Alex looked like she wanted to kill Cas.

Later, Cas was doing some research on the computer at the sheriff's station. He glanced up and saw standing off, lost in thought.

"Sherriff, Mills, are you alright?" Cas asked her, getting up and walking to her.

"No wonder she didn't thank me." Jody said, "That creep was her brother. I'm fine. You know, mostly, I'm just—I'm hung up on the name. Alex and Annie—they're so close already. Why'd they change it?"

"I'm as lost as you are on that on, Sheriff." Cas admitted.

"Please, call me Jody." The sheriff requested.

"Alright, Jody." Cas agreed awkwardly, "I think I might have found something. We know from her ticket that Alex, or Annie, or whatever she wants to call herself, hopped a bus out of O'Neil, Nebraska, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Jody responded.

"Even I know it'd be better to go in with a firm location, but the town's not that big." Castiel continued, "But I worked together a short list of possible nest locations. Uh, there's an empty fire station, four or five delict homes, nothing I can't hit in a day." He looked at Jody, "Are you okay to watch Annie, or Alex or whatever she wants to call herself, on your own?"

"Oh, well, girl's a flight risk, not exactly friendly, but I think I can handle babysitting detail." Jody assured him.

"But you shouldn't keep her here, at the station." Castiel cautioned, "You've already been exposed. And vampires are expert trackers."

"Terrific." Jody responded.

"How is that… "Cas began before catching on, "You were being sarcastic, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was." Jody confirmed, as she had been warned about things like this, "Well, I've got an old family cabin outside of town."

"That should work." Cas replied.

"Okay." Jody said, "Well, shouldn't raise too many eyebrows, me being gone for a day."

"Perhaps you should find some kind of backup." Cas suggested.

"You want me to enlist my men in a protection detail against vampires?" Jody questioned, "Frank's still in the dark about what hit him last night. The guy still has nightmares about the barn episode of _The Walking Dead._ They're good cops. They're not ready for this."

"Alright," Cas agreed, "Have you ever heard of dead man's blood?"

"Mnh-mnh." Jody responded.

"It's a powerful tranquilizer for vampires." Cas explained.

"I would not say no to some of that." Jody told him, "I mean, not that I'll need it. You're gonna get a jump on these vamps and be back here before they even realize their kin's missing, right?"

Castiel nodded.

After giving Jody some of the dead man's blood Sam and Dean had given him, he headed for Nebraska.

Little did he know that in Nebraska, a woman who worked at the bus station has just got off work and was heading home, talking on the phone to her husband.

"Well, it's not my fault." She was saying, trying to justify her lateness, "Well, Ralph didn't show up for work today. I had to pull a double shift. I'll be home soon."

She hung up and walked to her car. As she pulled her keys out someone stepped up close behind her. She jumped a mile and swung around, only to see a familiar, if not well-liked man standing before her.

"Connor, you scared the— "She began.

"I'm sorry." Connor cut her off, clearly insincere, "I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that. It's just, you haven't seen Alex around, have you?"

"Uh, your sister. "She elaborated, "No, I can't say I have. Sorry."

"Huh." Connor responded, "So you didn't sell her a bus ticket out of town?"

"Did I help your shut-in kid sister get away from her weird scary-ass squatter family?" She recapped, "Answer's still 'no'."

"So, you're saying Ralph lied to us?" Connor countered, starting to become more sentencing, "Cause he said…that you sold her a ticket…right before we killed him.

The woman panicked and turned and ran but didn't get very far before another woman, this one with thick, wavy reddish-brown hair stepped from the shadows onto her path.

"You calling my family weird?" Mama asked, "Oh, honey, you have no idea."

Mama bore her vampire fangs and the woman screamed.


	75. In The Blood

"The cure?" Dean asked, "You really think the cure is gonna work?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Sam asked, preparing the first dose, "Sanctified human blood turned demons back into humans, you _were_ human until a day ago, so, this is going to work."

"Ah, Sam, I hate to break it to you, but this is not a normal demonic situation," Dean pointed out, "I'm probably a Knight of Hell, I got this thing on my arm—look, it's not there are any other demons out there for me to get into any trouble with. Just let me go live my life. I won't bother you."

"You really want me to give up on you?" Sam asked, trying to hide the fact that his heart was breaking. He got the holy water and splashed it on the ground and began chanting in Latin.

"You think I'm just gonna sit here like Crowley?" Dean challenged, intentionally trying to get Sam mad, "Getting all weepy while you shoot me up? Well, screw that. I don't want this!"

"How can you say that?" Sam balked, as he prepared a syringe, "You haven't even been a demon that long!"

"Yeah, well, apparently I've been one long enough." Dean retorted.

Sam didn't response, just silently walked closer to Dean, holding a syringe of blood.

"Sammy…" Dean began, "You know I hate shots."

"I hate demons. "Sam responded.

Dean's eyes went black for a second before Sam hit him with the holy water. Dean yelled as his skin sizzled and Sam plunged the needle into his arm. Dean groaned as Sam emptied the syringe into his arm.

"Look, we got a whole bunch more of these to go." Sam warned him, "You could make it a lot easier on yourself."

Dean's eyes widened as he grunted and groaned, the blood already taking some effect.

Meanwhile, a small conglomeration of creatures had gathered in the main room of the bunker, Hagar, Hannah and Tracey by the table, Kevin holding Hael's hand for all to see standing next to Linda on one side, Gadreel, Abner and Muriel, Miriam and the coven who had come down to help on a yet another side, and Margery descending the stairs hanging up a cellphone.

"Is Luda alright?" Hagar spoke up.

"Yeah, I just needed to get the babysitter to stay longer." Margery explained, "Have we heard anything?"

"Not yet." Kevin answered.

"Can someone please explain to me what we're all waiting around for?" Tracey asked.

"To see if Sam can cure Dean." Hannah answered.

"But he's a demon." Tracey said, confused, "What's there to cure?"

"Apparently you can turn a demon back into a human with sanctified blood." Margery took over.

"Sanctified -what?" Tracy balked, "Okay, what is this place, who are you people and what the Hell is going on?!"

In the time it took to explain what was happening Sam had injected Dean a few times. So far it was having little effect.

Sam slide another needle into Dean's arm as he groaned in pain.

"For all you know, you could be killing me." Dean pointed out.

"Or…you're just messing with me." Sam countered, "Either way, the lore doesn't say anything about exceptions to the cure."

Dean chuckled. "'The lore.'" He mocked, "Hunters. Men of Letters. What a load of crap it all is! "

Sam just stared at him. How was Dean changing so fast? He had only been a demon of two hours. _Months_ of being an angel hadn't had this kind of effect on him!"

"Oh, you got nothing?" Dean inquired.

"You want me to debate you?" Sam asked, "This isn't even the real you I'm talking to." Sam wasn't what he meant by that, if it was an accusation that Dean was putting on to make him give up, or if he was crazy in new demonic state.

"Oh, it's the real me alright." Dean told him, "The new real me—the me that sees things for they really are. Winchesters. Do-gooders. Fighting the natural order. Let me tell you something—guys like me, we are the natural order. It's the way it was set up."

"Guys like me still got to do what we can." Sam told him.

Dean scoffed. "And what even _are_ you anymore? Huh? 'Cause, you're not human? Haven't been for months. You're a freakin' _Archangel._ I mean, sure, you try to act all humble about it, like nothing has changed, shrinking away from the adoration, all the angels cow-towing to you, but from where I'm sitting…There ain't much difference between you and the old guard."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked, genuinely unsure of what his brother was getting at.

"Look at you here, desperately trying to save me at the expense of everything else." Dean elaborated, "Sending your underlings out to get me. I mean, did you even tell them everything? Or did you make something up? Or did you just say fetch and they went out without questions, like lemmings over a cliff?"

"You're mixing metaphors, Dean." Sam deflected.

"Technically that last one was a simile." Dean pointed out, "But that's beside the point. What you would have done if I haven't stopped attacking? If I had killed Hagar?"

Sam was quiet, as he didn't know what he would have done if that had happened.

"Come on, man." Dean goaded, "You know they would want my blood. So, would you give it to them or not?"

Sam was silent again, as he couldn't give a definite answer. Or maybe he was just _afraid_ of the answer.

"That's what I thought." Dean said, "You'd risk an angel rebellion, just for me, even though I would've had it coming, I admit it. Of course, they're all so scared of you, they wouldn't say boo, and you know it. You might actually be worse than me! I mean, at least I admit it!"

Sam plunged the next needle into Dean's neck and Dean screamed in pain. Then Sam tossed the syringe unto to table, leaning over it, pain and regret and doubt on his face. That wasn't true. He wouldn't have taken advantage of his station to get what he wanted. It _couldn't_ be true.

"Let me ask you this, Sammy: If this doesn't work, we both know what you got to do to me, right? You got the stomach for that, Sam?!"


	76. Anna Alex Alexis Ann

Jody pulled up to her cabin. As she parked, Alex looked around without amusement.

"What?" Jody responded to the look, "Too rustic for your taste? Well, I have a lot of great memories. Use to come up here all the time—first as a kid with my parents and then with my…" Her voice trailed off, a pit forming in her stomach and she cleared her throat, "Anyhow, it's a lot nicer than it looks on the outside."

They got out of the car and walked towards the cabin.

"F.Y.I—The woods around here—really easy to get lost in if you don't know your way around." Jody informed Alex as they walked, "Me—I know them like the back of my hand."

"I got it." Alex replied, 'Don't try running. You won't get far.'"

Inside the cabin, Jody began unpacking groceries, while Alex walked around the living room. The teenager took a crucifix from the wall and called out, "You know this doesn't work right? On vampires? It's useless.

"That's not why I have it." Jody called back to her.

That was when Alex noticed a picture of Jody's family. "Mm." She mused, picking it up.

It was at that point Jody walked into the kitchen.

"This your family?" Alex asked, referring to the picture.

"Yes." Jody answered.

"Where are they?" Alex asked.

Jody froze.

"Oh." Alex responded, "Dead."

Jody took the picture from her, scolding, "You know, there a thousand more polite ways you could say that. I'll give you a pass on account of the whole raised-by-monsters thing."

Alex, however, remained undeterred. "How'd they die?"

Suddenly the worst moments of Jody's life were flashing before her eyes. "Horribly." She was silent for a moment, then changed the subject, "You must be exhausted. I know for a fact you didn't sleep last night."

"I'm fine." Alex brushed her off.

"It's no problem." Jody assured her, "I can make up a bed."

"I'm fine!" Alex insisted.

"Suit yourself." Jody responded.

Meanwhile, Castiel was approaching a rundown house. He entered, searching with a flashlight. Despite the fact the house was in foreclosure it had obviously been lived in, as there were beds made on the floor with blankets and food in the kitchen. Presumably that was for Alex, as she was the only person in this situation that ate solid food.

Noticing the windows were blacked out Cas went over to look at them, when suddenly there was the sound of a loud machine behind the house. He moved to investigate.

He found a man shoving a dead body into the grinding jaws of a woodchipper. Cas carefully approached him for behind, reaching out and touching him on the back of the head. Within seconds, he fell to the ground.

Cas secured the vampire, Dale, as it turned out his name was, to a chair in the house and tried to get information from him.

"You're not really the best at destroying evidence." Cas noted, looking at the identification of Dale's victims, "Ralph Hedges. Stacey Kepler. Any particular reason you targeted them?"

"Yeah." Dale answered, "Hunger."

"Well, I highly doubt your family's just taking a nice after dinner stroll." Cas responded, "So, where are they?"

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be back real soon." Dale threatened.

Castiel was understandable starting to lose his patience. "What I asked was…" He grabbed Dale's hair and jerked the vampire's head so that their faces were very close, "Where are they?"

Meanwhile at the Sheriff's office Deputy Frank was filling out paperwork. He heard a male voice say, "Nice shiner." Causing him to jerk. He looked up and saw a woman and three boys.

"Can I help you all with something?" The deputy asked.

"As a matter of fact …I think you can." Connor, the one who had spoken earlier, said.

Back at the rundown house, Cas threw a punch into Dale's stomach.

"You don't want to talk." Cas began, "No skin off my back, as I believe the phrase goes. Because, you see, a blood sucking, body-chipping vampire—that's bad enough but vampires…that kidnap children…Well, I'm going to enjoy putting you down."

"Of course." Dale responded, suddenly exasperated, "Oh, I knew this was about Alexis. I warned Mama that girl would screw everything up for us one day."

 _How many names does this girl have?_ Cas thought, but aloud asked another question he was wondering about, "'Mama?' As in one vampire turned you all?"

"Well, all but little sis." Dale confirmed, "She was, uh, 'too good to turn.' Mama couldn't bring herself to, no matter what we said, no matter how bad Alexis got."

"Bad?" Cas repeated.

"Let me guess." Dale began, "You never had a teenage sister. Dragging her heels, whining, near constant, about everything, but more and more about the blood, like she's somehow about it, like she's better that us 'because she don't feed on people."

"She _is_ better than you because she doesn't feed on people." Castiel declared darkly, "Among other reasons."

It was then Dale decided to challenge everything Cas thought he knew about the situation. "Her moping? That teenage crisis-of-conscience crap? It's annoying as Hell, but it's just an act. When the chips are down, she'll always chose us over humans. I mean, how do you think we've stayed off the radar all these years? Pretty, young, lost-looking thing like her? Irresistible, especially to the kind of man few people would miss. I mean, sure, we hunt sometimes for sport, but it's a lot easier, and a lot safer to get delivery."

Suddenly a hypothetical sanario formed in Cas' mine of Alex finding some creepy ephebophile in a bar, leading him back to the nest, maybe using yet another fake name, like Ann or something, then the vampires attacking.

"She's your lure." The angel brethed.

"Best a vamp could ask for." Dale bragged, "And you better believe you don't get that good unless you enjoy it. In her own sweet way…Girl's as bloodthirsty as any vampire."

That was when Cas realized: If what Dale was saying was true, Jody was alone with a potential killer.

Meanwhile back in Sioux Falls at the cabin, Jody was bringing in firewood and realized Alex wasn't in the living room anymore. Going on a hunt for her, she found the feral teen in her son's room, seemingly sound asleep. She went to pull up the covers of her but Alex jolted up, scaring them both.

"Sorry." Alex said sincerely.

"I made you sandwich." Jody informed her, "It's out there if you want it."

"Alex, however, had other things on her mind. "Sheriff." She began, "My grandma?"

"I'm so sorry." Jody responded soberly.

"No, it's—it's fine." Alex said, though she was clearly rattled by sad revelation, "I figured—it's been years, and she was old."

Meanwhile, Castiel was trying to get Jody on the phone. He ran the victims through the local police department and learned they both worked at the O'Neil bus station. It didn't take a genius to figure out they had been killed for Alex's location.

Finally, Cas' phone rang and he picked it up. "Jody?"

"Cas, what's up?" Jody asked.

"Listen to me." Cas began urgently, "The vampires knew that Alex went to Sioux Falls, okay? They're probably already there. I'm on my way there next. But there's something else. There's something about Alex."

Just then Jody saw headlights pull up to the cabin. "It can wait." She declared, "They're here?"

"What?" Cas balked.

"At the cabin." Jody elaborated urgently, "Now."

"I'm on my way." Cas assured her.

"Hurry." Jody requested before hanging up.

Cas put the phone up, walking back in the room to deal with Dale before he left.

Back at Jody's cabin, the sheriff was rushing for Alex's room.

However, before she could get there someone flew through the window of said room and slid a dresser in front of the door.

Jody got there but couldn't open the door. Then from the inside she could hear Alex screaming.

"Alex?" Jody called out, not fully comprehending what was going on, on the other side of that door, "Alex, come on. We got to go. We got to go."

Form the other side Alex screamed, "Jody help!"

It was then Jody realize that Alex hadn't intentionally blocked the door. "Alex?!" She called out, fighting to get in, "Alex! Alex!"

"Help me!" A terrified Alex called from the other side, "Help! Let me go!"

By the time Jody burst into the room Alex and her captor had disappeared out the window. Jody chased them outside as they shoved Alex into a waiting truck.

Momma was sitting in the front, with Connor controlling the struggling Alex.

Jody ran for them only to get clotheslined by another vampire. As he was about to take a bite out of her neck Momma yelled from the car, "Come on, let's go!"

"Move it!" Connor seconded.

And with that the truck peeled out as Jody laid unconscious on the ground.


	77. Bad Blood

Back at the bunker, Sam walked out of the dungeon, leaning up against the wall, and taking a breath. That was when he heard commotion from down the hall.

Taking off, he landed in the main room in time to hear Tracey, who was marching off saying, "I can't believe you people!"

"Hey, what's going on here?" Sam asked, concerned.

"What's going on here is God must have lost his freakin' mind to make you of all people an angel!" Tracey, snapped, heading for the door.

"Look, I know this is a lot to take in- "Sam began, not really sure where this was going but just trying to calm her down before she hurt herself or someone else, laying a hand on her shoulder which she promptly shoved away.

"Don't touch me." Tracey ordered, "My family's dead because of you."

"What?" Sam responded, surprised and confused, as he had never even met this girl before today, let alone her family.

"I watched a demon slaughter my parents." Tracey elaborated bitterly, "And the whole time it talked about how it was celebrating. Some dumb kid let Lucifer out of his cage."

Sam's hear plummeted and he felt like he was going to be sick.

"And now not only do you somehow get promoted, but you're trying to save this-this thing." Tracey was seething now. After a moment she added, "So, can I go, or am I your prisoner now or something?"

"No." Sam answered gravely, "You can go."

Tracey huffed then ran for the door, opening it and fleeing.

Sam was still for a minute, then turned around to see Margery and Linda standing at the stop of the stairs. "Are you alright?" Margery asked.

"I'll be fine." Sam assured them.

Linda wasn't so sure. "What about Dean?" She asked, "Is the treatment working?"

"No, not very well." Sam admitted, "I think I need to talk with Miriam and the witches."

Sam gathered the girls in the hallway to have a talk in private.

"Look, it—it's not like it was Crowley." Sam explained, "Dean is in pain. I mean, he's in bad pain. It's like he's barely holding on. Guys…I might be killing him."

"It might be." Miriam admitted.

"So…what?" Sam asked, "Should I stop? Is there something else I can do?"

"Like what?" Miriam questioned "He's not possessed. Exorcism is out of the question. The ritual of purified blood is the only treatment I know."

"Miriam, did you hear what I just said?" Sam balked, not believing what he was hearing, "I could be killing my brother."

"Commander, he's not your brother." Miriam told him, "At least not now." She looked almost scared as she added, "You have to be prepared for—"

"Killing my brother." Sam finished for her.

Hoping to keep things from escalating, Lola spoke up. "We'll look into any other options, just in case."

"Thanks." Sam said, heading back to the dungeon as the coven walked off to set to work.

When he came back into the room he found Dean exactly where he left him, but completely still. Panicked, Sam hurried over and slapped Dean across the face. "Hey!" The archangel shouted "Hey! DEAN! Come on! Come back."

Dean's voice was only a whisper as he said, "No."

"Come back to me." Sam pleaded, "You there? Hey! Dean, you okay?"

"Yeah, if you…consider downing in your own sweat while your blood boils 'okay.' Dean weakly quipped before giving a weak cough.

Stand stood up. "Look, I can't stop doing this." He told Dean.

"Sure, you can." Dean replied, "You just stop! There's no point in trying to bring your brother back now."

"Oh, I will bring him back." Sam vowed.

"In fact, I don't even miss you uh…guilt-ridden, weight-of-the-world bro." Dean continued, "But I'm loving the new model: Lean, mean, Dean."

"Right." Sam responded, not believing a word he was saying.

"You notice I tried to get as far away from you as possible?" Dean challenged, "Away from your whining, you complaining. I chose the great unknown over you! Maybe I was just…tired of babysitting you. Or always having to yank your lame ass out of the fire since…" He laughed, "Forever. Or maybe…Maybe it was the fact that my mother would still be alive if it wasn't for you. That your very existence sucked the life out of my life!"

That hit Sam like a cannon ball to the chest, but he quickly covered, saying, "This isn't my brother talking."

"You never had a brother!" Dean exclaimed, "Just an excuse for not manning up. But guess what: I quit."

"No." Sam protested, "No, you don't. You don't get to quit. We don't get to quit in this family! This family is all we have ever had!"

"Well, then, we got nothin'." Dean responded coldly, "Or at least I got nothing. You-you have a nice new angel family to fall back on."

"They can't replace you." Sam declared, then before Dean had chance to respond turned away and prepared the next syringe.

"Oh." Dean mocked, as turned back around, "Ooh. Is this you manning up?"

"This is me yanking you lame ass out of the fire." Sam jabbed the needle into Dean's arm, filling his veins with the purified blood. "You're welcome."

Sam turned around, leaving Dean gasping in pain behind him.


	78. Fight For Me

Castiel's pulled up the cabin and immediately saw Jody lying on the ground. Greatly concerned, he jumped out and rushed to her. "Jody?" He asked, shaking her, "Hey, you okay?"

Jody responded by trying to get up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." Cas responded, helping her.

"Where's Alex?" Jody asked, struggling to her feet with Cas' help.

"I was hoping you could tell me." Cas replied.

"They came and I tried to stop them." Jody began.

"And you got knocked out." Cas deduced, "Well, that could've happened to the best of us. We're just lucky you're alive."

"You think they went back to the nest?" Jody asked.

"Of course, they did." Cas answered, "Why wouldn't they?" He rubbed a hand across his face, adding, "And then they're going to find their brother dead."

"You have to go back." Jody declare, heading for the car, "And this time I'm coming with you."

"Uh, Jody?" Cas responded, catching up to her and grabbing her by the arm, "Hey, hey. Whoa. Hold in. You're hurt."

"Then heal me and let's go." Jody insisted, "I'm coming."

"Jody, I can handle the nest on my own." Cas assured her, "Or I can get other back up."

"I don't give a fig about the nest." Jody informed him, "That girl was under my protection."

"Okay, that 'girl' can't be trusted." Cas declared harshly, "She's a lure. She's a-a honey trap. She's been feeding people to those vampires!"

"I don't care." Jody responded, "Whatever she did, she did because they made her."

"Oh, and that's a reason?" Cas challenged.

"She's kid!" Jody exclaimed, "Look, I get that you're not human so you probably don't understand certain things—"

"I understand that for the past eight years she has been baiting the hook for an entire nest." Cas cut her off, "She had more blood on her hands than most monsters."

"Did she ever actually kill anyone?" Jody inquired.

"That's splitting hairs." Cas responded.

While she knew that was true, she repeated the question, slowly as talking to slow child, an edge in her voice, "Has. She. Ever. Actually. Killed. Anyone. Herself?"

"Not from what I could tell." Cas admitted, "But she did lure them to their deaths."

"Because the group of monsters that have had their hooks in her since before she hit grade school _ordered_ her to." Jody argued, "And from what I've heard in the past you have done some pretty sketchy things because you were ordered to."

Cas didn't response because, from that stand point Jody _did_ have a point. He had done things when ordered that were-less than moral and had put people in danger and he was melinia old. Alex wasn't even old enough to vote.

"And, if you remember correctly, _she ran away._ " Jody continued, "Sure, she never gave a concrete answer on why, but isn't it a good guess that maybe it was because she wanted to stop?"

"Yes." Cas admitted reluctantly. That _was_ a point in the girl's favor. "Tell you what, I get deal with the vampires, you get the girl, and we'll figure out the rest later. Just…be careful okay? If anything happens to you, Sam and Dean will kill me. As painfully as possible."

"You'd do well to keep that in mind." Jody warned him, "Because if you lay so much as a hand on Alex…You'll have to go through me."

Back at the nest, Alex woke up on a bed.

Before the girl could really take in her surroundings, Mama spoke from the other side of the room. "Put up quite a struggle with Connor. Says you nearly took his eye out. Maybe that was just his excuse for knocking you out. You have any idea the mess you made? Hunters raided the place while we were out, tortured and killed Dale. Our home's been made. We're gonna have to move again."

"Mama, I-I never meant—" Alex began, afraid and inexplicably guilt-ridden.

"Shh, shh, shh," Mama began, coming to the bed," shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh! We will all find our way. Things got screwy…but you're back now."

"Why?" Alex asked, "After everything, I thought that you—"

"You thought what?" Mama cut her off gently, "That I'd hurt you? Kill you? I would never hurt you?" Not my baby girl, not my sweet Alex. How could you even think that? Baby, why did you do it? Why did you run from us?"

"I love you, Mama." Alex began, "I do. I just—I couldn't take it anymore. The blood and the death, the sounds of their screams. I just…I can't do it anymore. And the way I feel afterwards, the guilt…I'd rather die than feel that way again."

"It's my fault." Mama responded, partially to Alex, partially to herself.

That took Alex by surprise. "What?"

"All of it." Mama continued, 'This is my fault. I should've turned you years ago."

Meanwhile Castiel and Jody were down the road from the run-down house, preparing to raid it.

"Well, their truck's in the driveway." Jody noted.

"So, we're walking right into it." Cas said partially to Jody, partially to himself, then he addressed the Sheriff as he continued, "Jody. This is still a raid, so tread lightly, stay close. If we want to get to Alex, we'll need to clear the nest first. You got it?"

"Got it." Jody replied, annoyed.

Back in the house, Mama was still talking. "It was so selfish. I wanted to watch you grow up. I kept putting it off. Don't you see? These things you've been feeling—all the guilt and suffering—those are human feelings. It ain't too late. I can take the pain away. And we can stay together, as a family. Like none of this ever happened. Wouldn't you like that?"

Cas and Jody entered the house and cleared the first floor. Cas made his way upstairs and motioned to Jody to stay where she was.

As Cas clearing the second floor, Jody hear groaning from down stairs and went to investigate.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Cas turned the corner, only feel a rifle pushed in his back, causing him to actually tighten his grip on the machete.

"Drop it. "Connor ordered.

Cas dropped the blade to the floor and then got 2x4ed in the head by another vampire, sending him to the ground. Even in his weakened state, all it gave him was bit of a sore head, momentarily confounding the vampires. It was enough time for Cas to reach out and smite them both. Oddly tired, he just stayed for a minute after they fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Jody was moving down the stairs trying to find the source of the groaning. That when she saw Alex lying face down on the bed. Horrified, she rushed over to her.

"Alex, come on." Jody entered, trying to pull her up, "Come on, honey. We got to go."

"Go away!" Alex shouted, refusing to get up.

Jody remained undeterred, telling the girl, "We got to go!"

Alex sat up and her eyes were ringed in a weird amber hue and her mouth was covered in blood.

"What did they do to you?" Jody demanded, shocked and dismayed.

"I'm sorry, Jody." Alex response sincerely, "I made my choice."

Mama stepped out from the shadows and punched Jody unconscious before declaring, "She chose me."


	79. Memories

In the bunker, Sam needed another break, so he went walking through the hall. He found Dean's room and went inside, looking around. He walked over to slice of pie, finding it, then flipped over a page in a notepad to see pictures of a young Dean and their mother, of their mother and father before everything went wrong. Of him, Dean and Bobby, and two pictures of just him and Dean.

Tears welled up in Sam's eyes as he looked at one of the pictures of just him and Dean. He had to get Dean back. There had to be a way. If the demon blood didn't work then something else had to be. He dropped the pictures where he found them, walking from the room.

He walked back into the dungeon to find the chair Dean had been sitting in…

Empty.


	80. To Know One

As Cas finally go up, he called out, "Jody?"

He walked back down to the first floor and saw Jody had vanished. "Jody!" He called out.

In the basement, Jody was strung up by her hands to the rafters. Mama was going through all of Jody's weapons on the table.

"Can't say you didn't come prepared." The vampiric matriarch noted.

"Alex." Jody called out weakly as she was still coming to and was pretty certain she had a concussion by that point.

"Hey." Mama snapped pointing a weapon at Jody, "Don't be bothering my girl. She's going through something, a process."

"What did you do to her?" Jody demanded.

"Fed her my blood." Mama answered, "She's on her way now. All that's left is to feed."

"Please, Mama." Alex begged, "Let her go. I already drank from you. Let her go."

Mama looked over at Jody. "Made an impression on my girl. I see." Then she turned back Alex. "Baby, this is the human half of you talking. After the change, this human—she ain't nothing to you." The she turned back to Jody, "Clearly, Sheriff, you got issues, some hole in your life you're using my Alex to fill. I would say go and get a family of your own, but, well…you know."

"Wow." Jody responded, thinking the woman full of it, "That's pretty rich coming from the woman who stole Alex to begin with."

"I have fed her, clothed her, loved her going on nine years." Mama declared defensively, "You think motherhood's just about blood? You don't know the first thing about it."

"Maybe not, but I know what it isn't." Jody countered, "And it ain't about forcing her to be like you the second she becomes inconvenient."

It was then Mama addressed Alex again. "Don't you see what she is trying to do? This hunter cop bitch is trying to turn you against me to save her own hide. Don't believe a word she says." The she kicked the side of Jody's knee and it crunched in a sickening pop. In pain, Jody screamed.

"She ain't your mother." Mama finished.

Jody was still gasping in pain but was putting the pieces together in her mind…

"Alex!" She exclaimed suddenly, "Was that her name? You named her after someone. Was it your daughter? I couldn't figure out why you changed her name. I thought maybe you were ashamed of your theft, but you have no shame. You said that I was using her to fill a hole in my life, and you're right. I am. You are, too."

"Mama?" Alex spoke up, wondering if it could be true.

"I guess it takes one to know one." Mama said, "That Alex…She died a long time ago."

"And still hurts." Jody declared knowing the feeling all too well, "You still feel it, the loss the pain—like a stone in your gut. It hurts just a little bit less whenever she's near."

"You bitch." Mama seethed. She lept at Jody and stated to beat the Sheriff's face with her fist. "Good news, lady cop. Whoever you lost…You're gonna see them again then soon." She cut Jody down and went in for the kill but before she could finish it, Alex got to her feet and emptied a syringe of dead man's blood into her sire's back.

"Alex?" Mama gapped, falling to the floor, "How could you? You were my girl."

"I'm sorry, Mama." Alex responded remorsefully.

Jody quickly moved to the table and grabbed her machete. She went over to Mama and pulled back her head. Before she did her work, she looked to Alex. "Don't watch this, sweetheart." She figured the poor girl had been through enough.

Cas got down to the basement just in time to see Jody decapitate Mama.

"Everyone okay down here?" Cas asked.

"For the most part, but—" Jody began, "Cas, she turned Alex."

"Did Alex drink from a human?" Cas asked urgently.

"No." Alex moaned.

"And this- "Cas gestured to the dead vampire on the ground, "This was her sire?"

"Yes." Jody answered.

"Then we can fix this." Castiel declared, "But we'll need some of her blood. The sire's blood."

Cas couldn't get Sam on the phone, which worried him, but he was able to get through to Margery who was able to tell him what to do.

Cas was still trying to get a hold of Sam as Jody approached him.

"How are things back at the station?" He asked.

"Well, they beat up Frank pretty bad, but at least they left him alive." Jody answered, "He kept apologizing for spilling the beans about the cabin, but I told him that one's on me."

"Speaking of apologies, um…I believe I owe you one." Cas began awkwardly, "I was wrong about the girl. About Alex."

"No." Jody told him, "I could've been wrong too. My judgment was clouded. You know, working this case, it brought…feelings back. Feeling I've been trying to bury for years, you know, buried it under work, religion…even dating. The boys can tell you how that worked out. But, you know, it was still there, you know, underneath. The grief. Don't know what that means for me, just that I've been—I've been fooling myself to think that I could ignore it. Anyway, thank you—for coming out, for curing Alex, especially with everything that's going on."

"You don't need to think me." Cas assured her, "I mean, you're the one who killed her sire, got her blood."

"Sure, it'll work?" Jody asked.

"From what I've been told, it'll be a rough couple of days, but…She'll pull through." Cas answered, "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"

"I'm good." Jody answered, "I think Sam needs you more than me right now, anyway. Let me know when you fine Dean, okay?"

"Of course." Cas promised, "After it's done, do you know what to do with Alex?"

Jody smiled.

Later, back at the cabin, Jody walked into Alex's room, where the poor girl was tossing and turning on the bed.

"Don't get up on account of me." Jody said as the girl sat up.

"I'm—I'm hot." Alex explained, taking her hoodie off.

"Should I grab a—" Jody spoke up.

"I'll just be cold again in a second." Alex cut her off, "It's part of the cure, I guess."

"You want something to eat?" Jody offered.

"No, I'll just throw it up." Alex replied, "But, uh, thank you. "She looked up at Jody. "I want you to know that…When Mama offered I just…I couldn't disappoint her again. I had enough to be ashamed of as it is. Jody, I-I've done things."

"You don't have to explain." Jody assured her, "I know. Whatever you want from me, I'll give it. If you want, I'm here. But what you've been through the last 48 alone, losing your entire family, everything you've ever known or loved—no one can understand that."

"You can." Alex pointed out solemnly.


	81. The Battle For Dean

Sam busted out the dungeon, his head on a swivel. Where was Dean? How long had he been out? What was he planning to do?

He was answered by the sound of shouting from the main room.

In the main room, three angels were trying to hold Dean down, but he was putting up such a fight they could barely keep a hold on him. Then the lights suddenly shut off, leaving red lights flashing as alarms began to sound.

"Smart, Sam!" Dean called out, still struggling against the angels holding him down, "Locking the place down. Doors won't open." He managed to make use of the distraction to slip free. "Sammy!" He called out, "You're just making this worse for yourself, man! Oh, by the way, you can, uh…blame yourself for me getting lose. All that blood you pumped into me to make me human…well, the less demon I was, the less the cuffs worked. And that Devil's trap? Well, I just walked right across it. It smarted, but still."

Suddenly, Sam teleported from behind, grabbing Dean. "That's your big move?" Dean mocked.

"Listen to me, Dean!" Sam pleaded, "We were getting close, okay? I know you're still in there somewhere. Just let me finish the treatments."

"You act like I want to be cure!" Dean exclaimed, "Personally, I like the disease."

Sam fought to keep a hold of the demon/ his brother, saying, "Look, I don't want to hurt you!"

"That sucks for you, doesn't it?!" Dean mocked, struggling, "Cause you really mean that!"

"Look, if you don't come with me, I won't have a choice!" Sam warned.

Dean laughed without warmth. "Sure you, do! And you just made it. Tell you, what, it wasn't the one I expected. I figure you'd lose all these guys here trying to protect me. Who would've thought you'd actually chose them."

Sam froze for a moment. "Dean, that's not what's happening here."

"Yes, it is, even if you don't know." Dean insisted, "But see…Here's the thing: I'm lucky. Oh, Hell, I'm blessed. Cause there's just enough demon in me that killing you? Ain't no choice at all."

Suddenly, there were half a dozen angels posed to strike.

"No, don't!" Sam ordered, "Stand down! I got this!"

"Do you?" Margery spoke up from the side where she had been pushed.

Sam didn't respond, continuing to drag his brother kicking and screaming down the Hall. Suddenly the scream became an inhuman roar.

Sam was startled, loosening his grip, but quickly got back hold of his brother. Then managed to get a groin kick in. Sam was startled enough to let him go. Dean turned around, but Sam quickly grabbed the knife from his back pocket, putting its to Dean's throat, hopping the threat would be enough.

"Well…Look at you." Dean said, pretending to be impressed, "Do it. It's all you."

Sam let the knife and Dean smiled evilly as his eyes went black. However, before he could make a move, Sam dropped the knife and punched Dean in the face with all his might.

It was at that point Cas had got back, and seeing the fracas ran down, catching Dean as he flew across the room.

"Glad he was human enough for that to work." Sam declared, before going over to get Dean.

Shortly after that, Dean was once again strapped to the chair and Sam was pulling a needle from Dean's arm. It had gotten to the point where needle marks on Dean's arm, close by the Mark of Cain. (Sam was _so_ going to kill Cain the next time he saw him.) Dean was slumped over, his head hanging.

What the Hell are we doing to him, Cas?" Sam asked, "I mean, even after I gave him all that blood, he still said he didn't want to be cured, that he didn't want to be human."

"Well…I see his point." Cas admitted, "You know, only humans can feel real joy, but…also such profound pain. This is easier."

"But how could he possible figure that out?" Sam questioned, "He's only been a demon, what, 48 hours? How can he possibly gage the emotional differences in that amount of time?"

Before Cas could answer, Dean woke up and his eyes were black. As the black dissipated, Sam unscrewed the flask in his hand. Dean looked up to Sam and Cas, groaning and letting out a breath. He looked around, uncertain, while Sam and Cas watched him carefully. His didn't appear demonic anymore, they couldn't see anything that resembled a demon face, but with a situation like this, nothing was certain.

"You look worried, fellas." Dean observed.

Though Sam could see that Dean was no longer a demon, but still splashed holy water on him just to be safe and Dean looked up when nothing happened.

Sam smiled. "Welcome back, Dean."


	82. Something Stupid

Dean was out of it after the procedure, so Sam put him to bed before heading back to tell the others what had happened.

When he got to the main room, he found Castiel had beat him there, reading a book on demonic possession.

"So, I take this means you told them what happened." Sam guessed.

"That is correct." Cas answered, "How's he's doing?"

"He's uh…" Sam began, "He's still a little out of it, but better, "I mean, I think this whole thing—the blood cure, and the…all of it, really wrecked him, you know?"

"Yeah." Cas responded.

"On the plus side, he's hungry again, so after I deal with a few things I'm just going to pick him up a big ol' bag of crap food and stuff it in his face myself." Sam declared.

However, Hagar spoke up, reminding the pair they had an argument. "Respectfully, sir, are you sure that is a wise use of time? One problem is solved, but one still remains. Dean is no longer a demon, that' s true. But the Mark of Cain…that he still has. And sooner or later, that's going to be an issue."

Sam knew she was right, and it was hard to argue with her when still had dried blood on her forehead.

"Tell you what," Margery spoke up, "I'll make the food run for Dean, you handle the search for a cure here."

"Margery, I can't ask you to do that." Sam protested, "Don't you have to go to work tomorrow?"

"Sam, your brother has been branded with a Biblical symbol that turns him into a demon upon death and is going to do God-knows-what to him while he's alive." Margery recapped.

"We really need to come up with another saying for that." Kevin commented to himself.

"I think me missing work is the least of our concerns." Margery finished, "I'm helping and that's finial." Then she turned around and walked off to get the food before anyone could stop her.

"Okay," Sam began, "Now, there has go to be something in this bunker of the Mark of Cain. So, we'll divide up into groups and take the stacks by…"

As Sam was giving out directions Kimmie was staring off into the distance, the wheels turning in her mind.

Taking notice of her friend's compilation, Lola turned to her asking, "Kimmie, are you thinking about doing something stupid?"

"Define stupid." Kimmie requested,

"Digging up that book." Lola elaborated.

"Well, then I'm thinking about doing something stupid." Kimmie replied.


	83. Kimmie's Secret

After a night of searching, they were no closer to finding anything on the Mark of Cain then when they started.

As a matter of fact, didn't appear to be _anything_ on the Mark in the entire bunker.

"You'd think these eggheads with all the crap they amassed over the years would have actually collected something important." Dean said, helping Sam search. He picked up and book, saying, "Ah, here— 'He-Wolf, She-Wolf: A Study of Werewolf Transgenderism' six hundred pages, volume one. But, uh, something important like, I don't know, maybe the oldest symbol known to man— 'that's not worth our time, it's not weird enough'."

Sam laughed a bit in spite of the situation. He looked up just in time to see Kimmie step into the doorway, looking rather nervous. In fact, this was an understatement. She looked terrified.

"Hey, Kimmie." Sam greeted her, "Ah, something wrong.?

"I need to talk to you." Kimmie said, still clearly scared, "I think I know something that-keep in mind that I'm not sure-but it might help."

"Well, don't keep us in suspense kid!" Dean responded, perhaps a bit harshly, "Spit it out."

"Dean!" Sam scolded, "Come on, sit down." He could tell that something more was going on.

Kimmie set own in a nearby chair, her mouth feeling like it was full of sand. "What do you know about the Book of the Damn?" She finally managed to get out.

"You mean, like the _Evil Dead_ sequel?" Dean asked.

"No, like, an actual book." Kimmie replied, "A spell book. Around 700 years ago, there was this Spanish nun named Agnes who had what she called 'visions of darkness'. Considering when what she did next, they must have been pretty dark."

"Why?" Sam asked, "What did she do?"

"Made it her business to undo curses." Kimmie answered, "And she did that by locking herself away. After a few decades squirreled away by herself, she emerged with a book made with her own skin and written with her own blood."

Both boy's faces contorted into looks of disgust.

"Yeah, I know," Kimmie responded, "But there's a spell inside that thing for everything. Talking some black mass, dark magic, end-of-times nastiness. It's been owned and used by cults, covens, even the Vatican had it for a while. And most recently it's been in the possession," She swallowed as what precious little color left in her face drained from it, "Of my family."

"Okay, why do you look like Death is standing over you scythe and all when you say that?" Dean asked.

"Because my name isn't really Kimmie Martian." She answered, her voice suddenly changing to take on a Cajun accent, "It's Osceola Styne. And I faked my death to get away from my family."


	84. Great Big Book of Evil

"Man, your family must be a real piece of work." Dean commented.

"Look through the Men of Letters files." Kimmie/Osceola replied, "That should tell you everything you need to know."

That was how Kimmie or Osceola or whatever her name was, wound up sitting in a chair her stomach in knots while Sam and Dean read over the files, while Lola put an arm around her, assuring her, "You're doing the right thing here."

"Your family," Dean was saying, still looking at the file, "All kinds of wrong. Talking multi-generational, centuries old wrong. The Styne family. Men of Letters' files have them dated back to the early 1800s. They used spells to create disease, to destabilize markets. Hell, they even helped the Nazis before they came into power, and they profited from all of it."

"You can see why I ran away." Kimmie/ Osceola replied, daring a glance up at them.

"It also says, all the spells they used, came from a book of 'unspeakable evil' which they lost nearly a hundred years ago." Sam added in.

"That's another reason why I ran away." Kimmie/ Osceola said, "I didn't want in on the family business, so to stall for time until I could think of a way to get away, I declared that I was going to fine the Book of the Damned and to my surprise, they agreed let go off and do it. And then, once again to my surprise, I found the damned thing."

That caused both boys to do a double take. Then Dean turned to Lola and demanded, "You mean you've had something like this the whole time and you didn't think to tell anybody?!"

"We don't have it." Kimmie/Osceola spoke up, "I reburied the book at the monastery where I found it at and I ran as fast as I could and as far as I could. Then I met Lola and she helped me fake my death. I've been trying to forget about it ever since."

Sam crouched down, looking at the girl sympatric. "Osceola, can you show me where the book is? Please?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Dean spoke up, getting in between them, "You're not actually considering this are you? Did you read that file? We cannot unearth the great big book of evil."

"Dean, I'm not seeing another option here." Sam replied, "We've had a whole team working on it since I got you human, and we can't find anything."

Lola cut in, saying, "Kimmie, can't you just _tell_ them what the book says about the Mark?"

"That's the thing." Kimmie/Osceola replied, "I don't know what it says about the Mark, the only things we wrote down from the book was what could be useful to us. The Mark didn't meet that criteria."

"See?" Dean responded, "We don't even know if there's anything that _can_ help us."

"Well, then we'll look at the book, see if there's anything on the Mark, and if there isn't we'll put it back before her nutjob family even knows what happened."

Kimmie/ Osceola shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

Realizing she wasn't saying something Dean sighed. "What is it this time?"

"I just think before this goes any further, I should let you know it's written in code." Kimmie/Osecola explained, "That itself is written in an obscure Sumerian dialect. But you guys have the codex to decrypt it. Or at least, the Men of Letters does." Her eyes went around the bunker before adding, "Which I guess is you guys now."

"Okay, so, me and Osceola go get the book, everyone else looks for this codex." Sam instructed.

"Only if you stop calling me Osceola." Kimmie spoke up, "I might not be actually dead, but that girl died a long time ago."

"Alright." Sam said, reaching out a hand to her.

Kimmie took and got up saying, "It's at the ruins of a monetary in Spain."

"Okay." Sam responded, taking off with her.

It turns out there are lot of ruined monasteries in Spain. It took Sam three times to get the right one.

"This is it." Kimmie declared, running to the middle of the rubble and started to dig with her bare hands. Sam hurried over and crouched down to help her.

They dug for what felt like forever.

"How deep did you bury this thing?" Sam asked finally.

"Like your brother said, great big book of evil, I didn't want anyone getting to it." Kimmie snapped, "And last time I had a shovel." At that point they hit something solid. "Ah, ha!" She pulled out a large brown book, holding it up for Sam to see, "Here it is!"

"Great." Sam said, getting up and going over to her as she got up. Both of them were covered in dirt and ash. He took her arm and teleported.

They landed in the main room, where the others had gathered around a table with an old-fashioned tape recorder on it.

"Hey guys." Sam greeted them.

"Good news." Kimmie beamed wearily, holding the book up in victory, "We found it!"

"We have news, too." Dean said, "Good news, we found the location of the codex. The bad news, that's where things get complicated."


	85. The Werther Box

"You remember our old friend, Magnus." Margery spoke up, her voice becoming poison as she spoke his name.

"Kind of hard to forget." Sam replied, "What does he- "Then it dawned on him, "What did he do?"

Margery looked over to the elder Winchester. "Dean, it might be simpler if you just play them the tape."

"You need to- "Dean began, putting his hand on the button.

"I'll be fine." Margery assured him.

"Okay." Dean said before playing the tape.

A voice they didn't recognize began, sounding very official, "Please, let's come to order. Men of Letters meeting minutes—May 16, 1956. On the matter of the Cuthbert Sinclair expulsion. This is hardly your first offense Cuthbert. You've been cited for disciplinary infractions seven times in the course of your tenure. This…enchanted vault of yours, this…Werther box. A warding so potent it achieves a theoretical rate of…in your own words 98 percent lethality."

"Extreme measures were warranted." A voice they recognized as Cuthbert Sinclair, A.K. A Magnus, replied, "The Coven's desperate to get the codex back. The Werther box works."

Sam's eyes went over to Margery, and saw her hands balled into fist at the sound of Magnus' voice. Sam reached out and took her hand.

"All too well, I'd say." The first voice replied, "Working in secret, embarking on this project without oversight…you left two fellow Men of Letters vulnerable to your most potent magics. Fletcher and Martinez were members in good standing. Fletcher chanced upon the box and died in two hours. Martinez heroically tried to shut it down. We found him dead on the floor beside the box, his wrists cut."

"I already apologized for that incident." Magnus snapped, "I refuse to do so again. Why are you all so small-minded? Hmm? We were brought here to do great things. To take risks, to bring the fight to the monsters of the world. And yet, to a man, you choose instead to molder in these stacks. You are not men. You are _NOT_ men. You're librarians, nothing more."

Ignoring Magnus' outburst, the first voice said, "Before we rule what is to be done with you, I'm prepared to give you a chance to secure our leniency. Tell us how to shut it down. The box is still in St. Louis with the codex. It's still a danger."

"Let me tell you what you can do with your leniency Markham." Mangus responded, his contempt for the other man evident, "You know, I saw the writing on the wall. I knew you cowards would shut this project down, which is why I built it the way I did. There is only one way to silence the Werther for good. Let's just say Martinez was on the right track. I doubt you the guts, but you're welcome to die trying."

They could hear footsteps and assumed Magus was leaving the room.

"Markham, would you have us keep trying?" A new voice spoke up.

"The box is to be interred and guarded where it stands in in perituity." The first voice, Markham apparently, ordered, "Bury it."

There the tape ended. Everyone was silent, then Sam asked, "Do we have the address for their Saint Louis headquarters?"

Lola handed him a piece of paper. "You'll also find instructions for the Cabirian invocation. Good all-purpose disenchantment. Just in case."

"Thanks." Sam replied.

Dean opened his mouth to protest put suddenly he was just staring at the book. It was like he was drawn to it.

"Dean?" Sam asked, noticing the change in his brother, "Dean!"

Dean managed to shake it off. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to be around that thing." He told his brother.

Sam quickly got his bearings back, then instructed, "Okay, Kimmie, I need you to get that thing as far away from Dean as possible, I'll be right back." And with that, before anyone could protest, he took off.

Sam landed in the house and immediately found a shotgun in his face. "Stay right there." An older, angry woman with her hair pulled back ordered.

Sam knew the gun wouldn't hurt him, but he didn't want to hurt the woman either, so he obeyed. "Look," He began, "I know this may seem weird- "

"Guy materializes in the middle of my house, Hell yeah, that's weird!" The woman cut him off harshly, "How did you do that anyway?"

"I flew." Sam replied, "Or teleported. Possibly both. It all depends on how you look at it."

"Was that supposed to make sense?" The woman responded, on edge.

It dawned on Sam he probably should have known more about the address now before he just barged in. Doing the only thing he could think to do now, he looked into the woman's mind:

 _It looks like the 1970s. 1973 to be exact. She's about fifteen, on the couch watching her TV when a teenage boy, he thinks it's her mother, maybe, turns it off._

" _Hey!" The girl protested._

" _Get lost." The boy brushes her off._

" _My show just started." The girl told him, "You have a record player in your room."_

" _Dad's speakers are better." The boy informed her._

" _Tough luck." The girl retorted, turning the TV back on._

 _Just then, a woman, their mother presumably, came in with a laundry basket. "I need the laundry started." She declared, "The workmen have finally left for the day and I have my hands full with dinner." Making her point, she turned off the IV, "And please, none of your Betty Friedan stuff."_

" _It's not fair." The girl protested as her brother put on the record player, "Look, I always get stuck with the hard chores just cause I'm the girl."_

" _Yeah?" Her mother responded, "Well, tough luck."_

 _The girl reluctantly took the laundry and walked past an office when a man, presumably her father, could be heard on the phone, thought she didn't pause to listen to what was being said. The she walked past her mother in kitchen, went down the basement stairs to a washer and dryer._

 _That was when suddenly she went into a trance. No longer aware of what she was doing, she walked over to a toolbox that somebody, presumably the workmen her mother mentioned, and took a sledge hammer._

" _Don't spend all day down there." Her mother called up from the kitchen, but the girl paid her no heed, hammering the wall until she revealed a large box that looked like some sort of safe. She stepped through the whole and went for the box. When she tried to open it, she knocked backward by some force, losing consciousness._

 _When she woke up, she was back to herself, and went upstairs, wondering what had happened. There was food burning in a frying pan on the stove in an empty kitchen._

" _Mom?" The girl called out, but got on replied. She walked into her father's office, thinking maybe he knew where her mother had gotten off to. "Dad, where's Mom?"_

 _That was when she saw it. Her father lying on the floor, dead, a gun lying near him and a large puddle of blood coming from the gunshot wound in his head._

 _Horrified, she ran into the living room. "Mom?" She called out, desperate for help, "Brad?"_

 _That was when she discovered Brad had hung himself in the hallway._

" _Aah!" She screamed, running back to the kitchen where she saw her mother, "Mom? Mom!"_

" _Everything's gonna be okay." Her mother assured her._

 _Terrified, the girl ran to her mother and was on her knees hugging the woman._

" _Everything's…" The mother grabbed a knife, "Gonna be just fine." Then the woman slit her own throat, officially making her daughter an orphan._

 _Suddenly it was a different scene. A woman who looked like she might be of some relation to the father was heading to the basement with a cardboard box._

 _Suddenly an older version of the girl came running up to her getting in-between the woman and the door. "Aunt Pauline, no." The girl urged panicked, "You can't go down there."_

" _Suzie, I'm just going to stow some old junk down there." The woman, Pauline, informed her, slightly startled._

" _You can't go down there." Suzie repeated, "No one goes down in the basement."_

 _The woman looked frustrated. "Suzie, enough of this!" She snapped, "Now, I don't know what happened, but there's nothing down there."_

" _No, you're wrong!" Suzie shouted, "I was down there that day that it happened, and…and…."_

 _Pauline's face softened. "Okay." She conceded, "It'll find somewhere else to put them._

 _Suddenly it was later that say, Suzie came back in the room and found to her horror, the basement door open._

" _No!" Suzie screamed, running off and shouting, "Aunt Pauline?! Aunt Pauline?!"_

 _Suzie soon found her aunt lying in front of the stove, a knife in her chest._

"Oh, my God, Suzie." Sam gasped when he was done, "I'm so sorry."

"How did you- "Suzie began.

"Look, I know what that box is." Sam explained, "And I think I know a way to stop it."

Before Suzie could inquire what, he meant Sam flew down to the basement. He turned around and immediately saw the hole. He ran over to it and pulled the box out.

"Here goes nothing." Sam declared, before throwing the box on the ground.


	86. The Destruction

With his Archangel strength, Sam was able to break the box open, sending a fog of green smoke through the basement and the whole house, so thick he couldn't see.

Panicked, he grabbed something hard and thick that he thought was the book, before flying back upstairs for Suzie.

Sam quickly grabbed the woman, taking off with her and landing in a heap on the ground where the others immediately swarmed him, peppering him with questions.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked, as they helped the pair up.

"Who's this lady?" Kevin inquired, before Sam could answer.

"Kevin!" Linda scolded, gently spatting his arm.

"What?" Kevin protested.

"Did you get it?" Kimmie asked, pushing her way to the front of the crowd.

Sam held it out for her.

Kimmie beamed, taking the codex, saying, "I can't believe you actually did it!"

"Can someone please tell me what the Hell is going on here?!" Suzie demanded.

Sam turned around. "Alright, "He began, "To start…"

Unbeknownst to anyone, a convoy of cars were coming at the bunker from one side of the road, from the other, a simple, bit rather nice, dark-colored car.

From either group cars door began to open and people began to step out, revealing Malachi and the soccer mom angel on side, a nicely dressed man with short light brown hair and slight light brown beard on the other.

"Who the Hell are you?" Malachi demanded.

"Jacob Styne." The man answered, "I have reason to believe that there is something here that belongs to my family. Unfortunately," He looked down at the golden device in his hand, "My compass stopped working." He looked back up in the group, "And may I ask who you and your friends are?"

"I am the angel Malachi." He answered, "And this is my army." Soccer Mom angel opened my mouth to and he added, "At least for now. Tell me, what was stolen from you?"

"What business is that of yours?" Jacob asked.

"It's just…" Malachi began, "If what you're looking for is then we could help each other."

"And why would I want your help?' Jacob challenged.

"It's either help each other or get in each other's way." Malachi reasoned, "I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned, the former is more appealing."

"Good point," Jacob conceded, "I'm listening."


	87. Another Day, Another Battle

**AN: Sorry this is so late. The site was buggy all day and is now finally working.**

Jacob and Malachi lead the group to the front of the door. "So," Jacob spoke up, "Do you have a plan on how to get in this place?

"I have one plan." Malachi said, backing up. He charged at the door, kicking it. While not completely off its hinges, it was bent enough they could now see light from inside.

From inside the bunker, everyone heard the noise and turned to look at it. "Stay here." Sam ordered, heading towards the sound.

Dean followed after them and they both pulled out guns. "You should go back with the others." Sam said as they ascended the stairs.

"What?!" Dean balked, "No way! Sam, you have no clue what we're walking into!"

"Dean, given everything that just happened—" Sam began.

"What, I'm up for it." Dean discounted his brother's concerns.

Sam's eyes went back and forth trying to figure out how to respond.

"What?" Dean repeated, "I am…"

Just then there was another large _crash._ Having enough, Sam took off.

"Real mature, Sam!" Dean shouted at the air.

When Sam landed he paused a moment, trying to figure out what he was seeing. It was that bizarre.

Malachi gave a final kick, knocking the door down. That brought Sam to reality. "We got incoming!" He called down in warning, backing away.

The army of angels poured in. "Grab him." Malachi ordered. He had plans for Sam's death. He was going to use it to make an example.

Three angels went in to grab him, put Sam pushed two away and smited the third. No, not just smite, the angel erupted into flames, turning to ask before crumbling to the ground.

The angels nearby who saw what had happened just stared in horrified shock.

"Anyone else want to try me?" Sam challenged.

The angels fell to their knees and one in the middle exclaimed, "We surrender!"

Meanwhile, Jacob has stepped away from the fracas, heading down into the depths of the bunker to search for the boo, and saw a girl with short auburn hair running away, clutching something in her arms. His eyes widened for a moment when realized he recognized her. "Osceola!"

Kimmie slowly turned around, staring at her older brother in fear.

"You're-," Jacob continued, suddenly tumbling for words he was so shocked. He thought nothing could throw him. He was wrong. "You're alive?"

"Yes." She breathed, at a loss of words. Her worst nightmare was happening.

"What happened, girl?" Jacob asked, "Where'd you been?"

"Jacob, please." Kimmie breathed, clutching the book to her chest.

Then Jacob got a look at the book in her hands, her eyes widening. "Is that the book?" He asked, taking a step forward, then his faced contorted in anger as he jumped to conclusions. "Have they been holding you here all this time over that?"

Realizing what he was thinking, Kimmie protested, "No, it's not- "She wasn't sure where she was going with this, at that point she was just trying to stall until she can think of a way out.

"Oh, someone dies for this." Jacob seethed, grabbing Kimmie's arm, "But let's get you out of here first."

"Jacob, please, just hold on a minute and listen to me!" Kimmie said, trying to pull away, but her brother was too strong. Suddenly, she was that little girl, desperately trying to find a way out again…

Suddenly, there was loud, _clang,_ and Jacob fell, to the floor, revealing Miriam holding a frying pan of all things.

"Where did you get that?" Kimmie balked.

"Kitchen." Miriam answered, before grabbing Kimmie's arm, "Now, come on, we need to get out of here."

"What about him?" Kimmie asked, pointing to her brother's unconscious form.

That was when Margery and Kevin came in, gathering Jacob up. "We'll stash him in the dungeon for now."

Back on the stairs, Malachi had realized Sam still wasn't being delivered to him. Then he saw a group of his angels bowing to his enemy.

"What is the meaning of this?!" He bellowed, marching over to them.

They all pointed to pile of ash on the ground.

"What is that ?!" Malachi exclaimed, sincerely not realizing what that was.

Sam decided there was one way to end this now. He unfurled his wings. All six of them.

"What?!" Malachi gapped, "That's-That's impossible."

"How do you think I feel?" Sam responded, folding his wings "Look, can you just—stand down and we can move on to the next thing?"

"And go back to Archangel rule again?!" Malachi exclaimed. He looked around and saw that the situation was hopeless. Every one of his and Metatron's followers who had saw what just happened were fleeing, and the rest weren't faring well against Sam's troops.

And announcing Sam's status to everyone within hearing distance wasn't helping matter.

So, he did the only thing he could do. He raised his blade and stabbed it into his chest.

"No!" Sam screamed, but it was too late. Malachi was lying on the ground, after-imagine wings spread out.

After that the battle was quickly over, Sam's forces victorious.

As they regrouped in the main room of the bunker, Hannah, who was basically part of the inner circle at this point, came down the stairs to the table Sam, Dean, and Castiel were surrounding. "All of Malachi and Metatron's forces have either fled, or plead allegiance to you." She announced, smiling a little.

"Well, I guess that's one less thing to worry about." Sam breathed in relief.

"So, what happens now?" Cas asked.

"Well, I guess we start transitioning Heaven until self-government." Sam answered.

"Transitioning?" Hannah repeated, "Self-government?"

"Sam, that's not an option anymore." Cas informed him.

"Cas, you know I can't keep running things." Sam replied.

"And why not?" Cas challenged, "Sam believe it or not you're actually good at leading and frankly, at this point, I don't think they'll actually accept anyone else."

"Commander," Hannah began, steeping closer to the men, "What is he talking about?"

Before Sam could explain, the coven entered the room. "Guys," Lola spoke up, "We might have another problem."

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"My brother's in your dungeon." Kimmie explained, "Which means the rest of my family is probably gonna be looking for him."


	88. So Much For Plan B

"Why is he chained by only one arm?" Dean asked, looking at the man in their dungeon who was in fact, chained only by one arm.

"I tried to tell them they missed one!" Metatron spoke up from his side of the dungeon.

Sam sighed. "Okay," He began, walking over to Metatron and picking him up, chair and all, "Outside hall for you. "

"Hey!" Metatron protested, "Hey, you can't just keep doing this!"

"Sure, we can!" Dean called out as Sam walked away with the angel.

"Chain Jacob up right while I deal with this?" Sam requested.

"Sure." Dean agreed, walking over and doing so.

"Sorry." Miriam spoke up, "We were trying to restrain him properly, but then some of the attackers found their way down here, and—"

"After that point we kinda had our hands full and had to run." Amber finished for her.

"Well, it's not like he tore off his chained arm to get away or anything." Dean reasoned, "Just, pro-tip, always restrain both hands."

"We'll keep that in mind." Lola replied.

"We got this now." Sam assured them, re-entering the dungeon, "Why don't you go try to decrypt that book?"

"Alright." Lola agreed, gesturing to her coven, "Come on, girls."

As they filled out of the room Kimmie looked back at her brother, standing at him a sad uncertainty.

"Come on, Kimmie." Lola encouraged her gently, "You probably don't want to see whatever happens next. "This was still her brother after all.

Lola finally ushered out of the room, and Jacob glared at his captors. "I don't know what you did to her, but I swear…"

"We didn't do anything to her." Dean cut him off, "She ran away from you freaks."

"You're lying." Jacob accused him, "She was the only the girl, the apple of our father's eye…why would she give all that up for a bunch of witches and whatever this place is?"

"How 'bout because they're not freakin' physco." Dean countered.

"Or how 'bout they wanted their hands on the Book of The Damn?" Jacob accused, "And now from the sounds of it you can read the thing now."

"Speaking of which, Sam, may I see you outside for a moment?" Dean requested.

"Ah, Dean," Sam began, gesturing to Jacob, "We're kinda in the middle of something right now."

"What? He's not going anywhere." Dean reasoned, "His family's not attacking us right now." He turned to Jacob, "Is your family attacking us right now?"

"Trust me," Jacob replied, "When my family is attacking you, you'll know."

"See?" Dean responded, "We got time. Now, come on."

Sam allowed himself to be lead outside, turning around as Dean shut the door.

"Okay, what was so urgent it couldn't wait?" Sam asked.

"Alright, I know this isn't gonna be a popular idea, but I don't think we should use the book." Dean declared.

"What?!" Sam balked, "Dean come on, it's literally the only lead we have."

"Sam, you read the same file I did." Dean countered, "The way the book works, is when you use it, there was a negative reaction. I'm talking Biblical negative."

"We already got a Biblical negative!" Sam exclaimed, gesturing to the Mark on Dean's arm.

Suddenly, Dean got an idea. "But we also have a Biblical _positive."_ He declared.

"What?" Sam balked again.

"You can get this off me." Dean explained his theory, "You just have to—will it!"

Sam was silent for a moment. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before! "Okay," Sam said, taking the arm, "Let's give it a shot."

Sam tried to will it, but then minute he started, am intense, dark, nauseous pall over him. "I think I'm gonna…" Then suddenly Sam doubled over, vomiting.

"Aw, man, these are my only shoes!" Dean moaned.

"Yeah, I don't think this is gonna work." Sam said, "Do you think you think we could just—translate it to see what says?"

Dean looked at his brother, who's head was still hungover, and who, for the first time since turning into an angel, was giving him the puppy dog eyes. (Dean didn't think this was intentional though.)

"Alright." Dean relented turning back around. They steal had to deal with Jacob Styne after all.


	89. Plan C

**AN: Happy Easter Everybody!**

I don't believe it!" Kimmie exclaimed, looking down at the book.

"What?" Lola asked, turning to her.

"Whoever made this codex coded the code!" Kimmie responded.

"Was that sentence supposed to make sense?" Amber asked.

"This language is almost indecipherable." Kimmie explained, "Whoever made this clearly wanted this for themselves."

"Well, don't you know the language?" Amber asked, "I mean, your family was using it all that time."

"The only spells I've ever seen from the book were already decoded." Kimmie answered, "They lost if before I was even born."

"Well, we have to figure something out." Miriam spoke up, "The Winchesters are counting on us."

Meanwhile, Dean and Sam were back at interrogating Jacob.

"Well, I gotta say," Dean was saying, "You guys have an interesting family history. You guys screwed with fanatical markets, helped Hitler get started, along with God knows what else…probably disco. But you go back to the 1800s, and the trail goes dead. There's nothing in the research, there's nothing online. It's like your family just popped up one day. Now, in my experience families don't usually do that."

"Ossie didn't tell you all about it?" Jacob responded.

Meanwhile, Kevin was looking at the book of the damn, surrounded by the coven.

"I'm sorry guys." The prophet said, "I have no idea where to begin on this."

"Come on, Kev." Amber urged, "You can interperate the word of _God._ After the interpreting the word of crazy hermit gun should be a synch."

"Do realize how long it took me to decode the words of God?" Kevin asked, "And for the angel tablet I had to get into a dead language first, then get help from the ex-King of Hell."

They stared at him as if to say, _You got help from who now?_

"Long story." Kevin answered.

"Well, we have to get this thing stashed before my family gets here." Kimmie spoke up, "And trust me, they will get here, and Sam won't let that happen until we translate."

Suddenly, Kevin thought of something. "I have an idea."


	90. The Post-Modern Prometheus

"What exactly are you trying to do again?" Amber asked, looking at the laptop Kevin had hooked up.

"The computer is trying to find some pattern in the book's coding or any synchrony with the symbols in the codex, while you girls are doing your thing, and our combined forces should shift something out."

Back in the dungeon, they boys decided just to get down to business.

"Here's how this works." Dean laid it out, "You're strong. I'll give you that. But you can bleed and hurt just like the next guy, so we're gonna as questions, you're gonna give answers, or it's gonna get crazy really quick."

"Well, I hope you got some time." Jacob replied, "I'm not the usual bread of cat."

"Neither are we." Dean talked back, "Now, how long do we have it 'till the rest of your bunch gets here?"

"Honestly." Jacob began, "I don't know. There's something about this place, throw our trackers off." Then he noticed it. "You have the Mark of Cain, I see. My sympathies. That's why you wanted the book…to remove it."

"We wanted the book because that's where your power comes from." Sam lied, "See, our family business is putting guys like you out of business."

"Oh." Jacob responded, "It's impressive. Let me tell you about my family business. You're in way over your heads. The family is vast…spread over the world. And the power that you mentioned doesn't come from the book. It comes from intelligence and will. The book facilitates. Stock market dive, recession, 9/11…ringing any bells? Arab spring. Didn't even break a sweat."

"Okay." Sam said slowly, "Why?"

"Well, you got to be in it to win it, boys." Jacob reasoned, "You see, chaos breeds fear. Fear breeds panic, panic breeds desperation, and there's always profit to be bread from desperation. You make a big enough mess, has to get cleaned up. And we've been in the fix it business for 1,000 years and business has never been better. Now, for the last 80 years, we haven't had the book. With the book, we're unstoppable. That's why our father let Ossie go after it in the first place. That and he liked the initiative, the ambition. So, he let her skip what would've been her first harvest, said she could do it when she got back."

"Harvest?" Dean repeated. That didn't sound good, especially in this context.

"It's a family specialty…bioengineering." Joseph bragged, "Surgical enhancement. And I'm not talking nose jobs. See?" He tried to pulled down his shirt, then remember he was chained. By both hands now. "A little help here?" He requested.

Against his better judgment Sam walked over to Jacob and pulled down his shirt to reveal a long surgical scar running down the man's chest.

"Two hearts in here." Jacob continued, satisfied that he offered proof of the claim, "Bunch of extra muscle, especially in the legs. Every man in the families had a little something. Pretty much what you'd expect, though, given the family tree."

"The Stynes?" Dean asked.

"The real family tree." Jacob corrected them, "The name was altered out of necessity. You have chanced upon a long and proud tradition…And some unwanted notoriety. One of Europe's oldest family. The house of…Frankenstein."

The brothers exchanged startled looks. "Frankenstiens aren't real." Dean protested, "They're made up."

"Yeah, of course." Jacob snarked, "And we never had a family acquaintance named Mary Shelly who spent a few nights at castle Frankenstein and stumbled upon our secrets, and forced us to change our name and go underground."

"So, why didn't Shelly go public?" Dean questioned.

"She wrote a book." Jacob pointed out, "Doesn't get more public than that."

"A book with a lot of artistic licsine, it seems." Dean countered, "Unless she just documented your origin story."

"That's because no one believed it was true, just like no one's gonna believe you."

"Well, as long as me and my brother believe, that's enough." Dean boasted, "You might've noticed, we got some juice ourselves."

"Yeah, well…as mighty as I'm sure your little family is mine is a juggernaut." Jacob declared, "We're not ordinary men. We're Spartans."

"But you aren't immortal." Dean countered.

"What we are is expendable." Jacob replied, "I go down, there's an army of replacements behind me."

"And where does this army call home, hm?" Dean asked, "You said Kimmie was Daddy's little girl back in the day, so who's big daddy Frankenstein?"

"That is _not_ her name." Jacob insisted, "And were you here when I mentioned we were underground? There are secrets."

That was when it hit Sam. "Secrets I'm sure your sister would be happy to divulge." In hindsight, he wondered why they didn't think of that in the first place. "Keep working on him while I go talk to Kimmie?"

"Sure." Dean replied.

 _That_ made Jacob lose his cool a little. "You leave her alone." He seethed, struggling against the chains, "You leave her alone you hear me!"

When Sam got to the main room, he froze, staring at the scene before him. The girls were digging into their magic books, while Kevin was at a computer, all of them surrounding the Book of the Damn.

"Un, guys." Sam spoke up, "What's happening here?"

Amber peered up at him and said, "Cliff notes version, the code was coded and Kevin is helping us decipher it. It's basically magic versus technology."

"Ah, technology _helping_ magic." Lola corrected her.

"Okay." Sam responded deciding to deal with it later, "Ah, Kimmie, can I talk to you for a second? In private?"

"Sure." Kimmie answered somewhat apprehensively.

The pair walked into the stacks to get some privacy. "First off," Sam began, "How are you doing? With all of this?" In spite of everything else that was going on, he knew that today could not have been easy for her, and he wanted to make sure she was okay.

"I'm holding together." Kimmie answered, "I just can't believe this is happening. I just thought it would all be over when I got away, and—here we are." She chuckled somewhat bitterly.

"I'm so sorry you got dragged into this." Sam replied.

"It's not your fault." Kimmie responded, "I'm the one who came to you remember? So, what's this about?"

"Kimmie," Sam began gently, "I know this has been a difficult day for you already, but I need—one more thing. Just one more thing, I swear."

"Okay." Kimmie responded, sounding rather unsure, "What?"

"Where did you live before you were Kimmie?" Sam asked.


	91. A Recon Mission

"Okay," Sam began, "So according to Kimmie, her family's base of operations in Shreveport, Louisiana. Now, according to her estimate- "

"Which, could be a little off by the way." Kimmie reminded them all.

"There are at least Ninety members of the family." Sam continued, "And, they have local law enforcement on the take."

"They're practically Gods in that town." Kimmie declared.

"They?" Hagar spoke up, "I'm sorry, I thought this was _your_ family."

"Not anymore." Kimmie explained, "I left that all behind a long time ago."

"Well, we kill gods, honey." Dean spoke up.

The color drained from Kimmie's face and Sam shot his brother a reproachful look, before turning back to the witch. "Kimmie, we can't just let your family keep wreaking havoc on the world."

"I know." Kimmie admitted, "I honestly should have done something a long time ago, but, I was too afraid." She casted her eyes down in a show of shame.

Sam paused a moment, then said, "The other problem is, we don't know a lot about them. Kimmie's information is several years old, so there's a lot that could've changed. What we do know is that they're well-armed, well-funded and have a small army. But we do have one thing they don't have."

Five minute later, Sam teleported, landing in an opulent entryway. He turned himself invisible, then started walking up the stairs.

He came to some kind of office where a well-dressed older man was sitting at a desk. Another man, this one around Sam's age with tawny colored hair approached anxiously.

"Sir?" He spoke up nervously, "We have a situation."

"What is it?" The man asked.

"It's…Jacob." The man stammered, "He's…missing."

"What?" The older man exclaimed.

"He lost the signal on the book, then he stopped making contact." The other man explained.

The older man rose to his feet. "Then I want everyone, every single last man, on his last location, _now_."

"Yes, sir." The underling replied, then hurried to deliver the message.

"I'll be with you shortly." Monroe called after him.

 _Oh crap._ Sam thought. He knew once they saw the bunker, they'd but two and two together.

He took off after the underling. He had to see exactly how many soldiers they had.

And then he had to get his own ready.


	92. The War Begins

Sam followed the man into a room on the lower levels, where over a dozen men were awaiting his instructions.

"I have an announcement to make." The underling began, "Jacob Styne is officially missing."

Then was a quiet rustling from the group.

"His last known location was a road in Lebanon Kansas." The man continued, "Your mission is to descend on this area and leave no stone unturned and to you find where he is. Is that clear?"  
"Yes, sir!" they shouted in unison.

"Good." The underling said, "Now, let's roll."

The army began to pour out of the room and Sam took off for the bunker.

"I can't believe it." Amber said, looking at the computer back at the bunker.

"Believe what?" Lola asked, going to join her.

"I think the boy may have actually done it!" Amber exclaimed, "He's actually cracked it!"

Just then they heard the sound of wings behind them. They all turned and saw Sam behind them.

"They're coming!" Sam annoched.

It was afternoon by the time the Stynes got to Lebanon. Just as Sam predicted, they quickly noticed the bunker.

Monroe was the one to lead them up to the door saying, "Well what do we have here?" After a moment's examination he said, "This might be a bit though to crack."

The men tried every spell the knew and some acts of brute force. Nothing worked. At last they sent someone for dynamite.

They set it up and lit the fuse. The door turned the rubble and the men stepped through, only to be greeted with what looked an army of rag-tag misfits on the stairs.

"What the Hell is this?!" A lighter-haired man scoffed.

"Your worst nightmare." Dean spoke up.

Sam shot his brother a warning look.

"We'll see about that." The lighter-haired man bragged.

That was when the battle began. It was a mess of shooting and punching and stabbing and smiting. One of the man punched Hannah in the face sending her to the ground. Hagar swooped in, clutching the man's hand, and light beamed from his mouth and eyes before he hit the ground.

"What are these things?!" One of the men shouted.

"No idea!" Another man exclaimed.

"I think I do." Monroe said in hushed, awed voice.

At another corner of the battle, the girls were throwing every spell they could think of at the Stynes. They were a little more resistant to that.

"Man, these guys are tough!" Amber exclaimed, "Kim, are you this tough?!"

"Probably not!" Kimmie replied, sending another blast at them, "Skipped out on the augmentation."

That was when the lighter-haired man recognized. "Osceola?!" He called out.

Kimmie swallowed. _Oh, crap. Not this again!_

"Is that you girl?" The man said, walking towards her as if they weren't in the middle of a battle.

Kimmie's eyes darted all around. Unfortunately, Miriam was a little busy at the moment, and there was no frying pan in sight.

The man broke out into a smile, "We all thought you were dead, baby sister!"

"I'm-I'm your only sister." Kimmie stammered out.

Amber turned and mouthed at her, _What?_

"I don't know!" Kimmie exclaimed, as she truly didn't as those were just the first words that came out of her mouth.

Just then Lola stepped in front of both of the protectively, throwing him into the wall.

"Retreat!" Monroe ordered, and the men obeyed.

The angels started to run after the men.

"Stop!" Sam ordered, "Fall back! We'll deal with the rest latter." As he looked at the bodies on the ground and commented, "It does look like we put a dent in them."

After that they started cleaning up and making repairs. "Well, if there's one good thing to come of all this, you'll certainly be well-fed, Marge." Dean commented, smirking at the Kitsune as she went by, carrying a body.

Marjory cringed a bit and Sam shot Dean a warning look.

"Alright, bad joke, sorry." Dean said, continuing to drag a body.

Unbeknownst to either of them, before they left Monroe Stnye had the forethought to leave something in the rubble.

At that time, what was left of the family in their forces were gathered around a radio, listening to the bug they had planted.

"Well, well, well." Monroe commented, breaking into a devious smile, "I think I found a way to get to our little messenger."


	93. The Spell

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Margery asked, for her spot next to Dean as they watched Sam drawn the Tulpa sigil.

"No idea." Sam admitted, stepping back, "But it's worth a shot."

Once he had finished fixing the door, Sam had the idea to paint the sigil in hopes that a combined belief that the door was a hundred percent indestructible would prevent a repeat of the earlier incidents.

Just then Margery's phone went off. "It's the babysitter, I have to take this."

As Margery answered the call, Lola walked into the room. "Sam?" She began, "Can I see you in the main area for a second?"

"Sure." Sam replied, beginning to walk off.

"Dean, too." Lola requested.

The pair walked into the main area where the coven, plus Kevin and Castiel were gathered.

"What's all this about?" Dean asked.

Lola paused for a moment before beaming, "We did it. We cracked the code."

"Well, don't leave us all in suspense." Sam requested.

Kimmie began to read, "Sumsu mimma ezebu ilu ma ikkibu Lu."

"S-Something made by God but forbidden to man." Kevin translated.

"Forbidden?" Sam repeated.

"The forbidden fruit?" Castiel asked.

Sam huffed, "No."

"There's no way." Dean agreed.

Kevin and Kimmie looked at the boy's part apologetically, part impressed.

"The actual apple is the first ingredient?" Sam responded incredulously, looking exasperated as he looked around the room.

"Again, maybe this isn't such a good idea- "Dean began.

"Well, you could have told us that before we went to all this trouble." Kevin cut him off.

"We're doing this." Sam insisted, "Go on."

"Sumsu mimma ezebu lu." Kimmie read.

"Okay, uh, what's next?" Sam asked, asking for a translation in a roundabout way.

"Something made by man but forbidden by God." Kevin translated.

"Okay, well, God forbade false idols, right?" Sam speculated.

"The Golden Calf." Cas declared.

"Wasn't that destroyed?" Sam asked.

"Sumsu mimma sen arramu." Kimmie continued.

"Great." Sam said sarcastically, clearing his throat before asking, "What's the third ingredient?"

Kimmie looked down to read it and said, "Oh."

"What?" Sam asked.

"The third ingredient, it's impossible." Kimmie told them.

"What is it?" Sam responded.

"Loosely translated—my heart." Kimmie answered.

"She's right, that's impossible." Dean spoke up. He wanted the Mark of his arm, but he wasn't about to kill an innocent girl over it.

"Not my literal heart." She elaborated quickly, "Something I love, the spell calls for me to kill it."

"A sacrifice." Sam guess.

"Precisely." Kimmie confirmed, "The book will grant freedom from the curse, but it wants something in return."

"Okay, we're not doing this." Dean protested, "We're not asking you to kill someone." Then he had an idea. "Actually, do you still love the guy down in our dungeon?"

Kimmie looked like she was going to be sick.

"Dean!" Cas snapped, "We can't ask her to do that. He's still her brother."

Just then Margery entered the room.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked.

"The babysitter had a family emergency." Margery answered apologetically, "I have to go I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Sam assured her.

"Call me if you need anything." Margery replied already leaving.

"Okay, but we'll try not to need anything." Dean called out to her, "Hey, you need a ride?"

"No thanks." Margery called out, already out of view. She figured they had enough problems.

When Margery had just made it out of sight of the bunker, she saw someone else walking up the road, on the opposite side.

"Hey, there, little lady!" He called out to her in Cajun accent, "What are doing out here all on your own?"

"No car." Margery replied, thinking nothing of it," What's your excuse?" Then he got close enough to realize she recognized him. He had been in the battle. More than that, he had been leading it on the Styne's side. She turned to run, when suddenly her world became tinted and blurry and she couldn't breathe. Someone had put a plastic bag over her head.

"Just relax, Miss Margery." Monroe said, walking across the road as she struggled against the Styne holding the bag, fighting for her life, "We're not gonna hurt you. Not yet anyway."

That was the point where her vision turned black and she lost consciousness.


	94. The Demands

"You can't ask her to do this!" Lola protested, putting her arms around Kimmie protectively.  
"Look, normally we wouldn't, but—" Sam began, "I'm not seeing any other option here."

"Weren't you just against this?" Cas spoke up.

"I was but—" Sam began.

"It's not like we're asking her to slaughter a saint here." Dean cut him off.

Castiel looked up to the ceiling. "I can't believe what I'm hearing."

"Look, how 'bout a compromise." Sam suggested, "We don't even know if we can get the first two ingredients, right?"

"Right." Cas replied.

"Well, then, let's see if we can even thought find those first, then cross this bridge when we come to it." Sam finished.

"Well, if we do have to come back to it we still have to face the problem of her having to kill someone!" Lola pointed out.

Suddenly, they were interpreted by Dean's phone ringing. "Can we pause this for a second?" Dean asked, stepping away to take the call, "Um, who's this?"

"Annie, I'm Ms. McNamara's babysitter." She explained, "She never showed up at the house and I can't get her on the phone. You're one of her emergency contacts."

"Ah, okay, can you hold on a second?" Dean responded, then holding a hand over the receiver, turned back to the group, "Guys, we have a problem. Margery didn't make it home."

"What?" Sam responded.

"Apparently I'm one of her emergency contacts, the babysitter is on the line and she says that Margery never made it back to her apartment and she can't get her on the phone."

Sam whirled out his phone and was about to hit her speeddail when it went off. He looked at the phone and saw it was her. He answered quickly, putting it to his ear, "Margery, are you okay?"

"Sam," Margery began, urgently, terrified, "Whatever they want, don't give it to them."

"What?!" Sam began, confused and alarm, "Margery, where are you?!"

"Luda," Margery began, "Sam, I need to you promise me that whatever happens, you'll- "Suddenly she was cut off but Sam could hear muffled screaming.

"Margery?!" Sam shouted, fully panicked now, "Margery!"

"Well, I think that's enough of that." A Cajun accented voice said.

Suddenly Sam knew what was going on. "If you've hurt I swear—" Sam began.

"Relax angel." Monroe cut him off, "She's fine. Whether or not she stays that way is up to you."

"Let me guess." Sam replied, his anger barely continued, "You'll trade her for the book."

"And Jacob." Monroe added, "And Osceola. And you."

"You can have me." Sam responded, "But the rest is off the table."

"Angel, this is not a negotiation." Monroe informed him, "You either give us what we want or your little girlfriend here dies. Slowly and painfully."

Sam ran his hand through his hair, trying to think of something. There had to be some way to find her, to get her out without giving in to their demands. He couldn't give them the Book of the Damn back and he certainly couldn't give them Kimmie. God only knew what they would do to her.

"And before you say anything else I should tell you that this place is warded to the gills. "Monroe continued, "Even an archangel couldn't find her."

 _Of course._ Sam thought. "Okay." Sam relented, "Where do you want to meet."

Margery tried to shout her protest to whatever Sam was saying, but they were muffled by the cloth over her mouth.

"Parking lot of dank little spot called the Blackbird Motel." Monroe answered, "You have half an hour or I start cutting off bits." And that he hung up.

Sam looked around the room.

"Let me guess." Dean spoke up, "The Stynes have her."

"They want to trade." Sam confirmed, "Her for the book, Jacob, me, …and Kimmie." He turned to look at the witch, "Kimmie, I won't ask you to do this, but I have to take Jacob."

"What?" Dean balked, "Sam, you can't just—"

"I don't have a choice, Dean!" Sam exclaimed, "That got in warning so strong even I can't sense her."

"You realize they're probably just gonna kill her anyway?" Dean countered.

"Or they're kill her if you don't go with everything they asked for." Castiel reluctantly pointed out.

"I'll go." Kimmie spoke up before things could go any further.

"Kimmie, if you go back there—" Sam began.

"They'll kill me in a rather unpleasant manner?" Kimmie finished for him, "I'm the one who brought this all down on our heads, I'm the reason she's out there."

"No." Sam corrected, "I'm the one who insisted we get the book."

Deciding it was no use arguing the point of who was to blame, she finically just said, "You're not going without me."

A half hour later they were standing in the parking lot, Jacob in chains, Kimmie holding the book, minus a few pages they were hopping wouldn't be checked for, waiting on the Stynes.

A car pulled up and then Monroe Styne stepped out. "Well now," He began, "I was worried you wouldn't come." Then he turned his attention to his children, "Jacob, you alright?"

"Pretty much." Jacob answered, "Didn't tell them a damn thing."

Monroe looked down at his only daughter. "Osceola?" If they didn't know any better they could have sworn his eyes were a little misty.

Suddenly Kimmie's mouth went dry and her knees started to buckle. She was just as terrified of her father as she had always been.

"Ossie here appears to be a little Stockholm case." Jacob spoke up.

In spite of the terror, now rage was bubbling up inside her as well. Why was everyone so convinced she wouldn't run off?! Why can't they get that through their thick skulls?!

"That's alright." Monroe assured her, going over and stoking her daughter's hair, "We'll sort this out, honey."

Now there was confusion as well. Family members who had done less than what she had been killed or worst. So, what was with the fatted calf routine?

"Where's Margery?" Sam demanded, breaking up the family reunion.

"On her way to Shreveport." Monroe answered.

"That wasn't the deal." Sam seethed, "You said you'd let her go."

"No, I said I wouldn't hurt her." Monroe corrected, "She's our protection."

"Against what?" Sam demanded.

"Even we don't underestimate celestial messengers." Monroe Styne answered, before opening the trunk of the car, revealing heavy warding all over it, "Get in."

Sam swallowed thickly. He knew this was the only way to get to Margery, so he reluctantly got into the truck, which unceremoniously slammed shut.


	95. They Know Who You Are

The next few hours were torture were several reasons. One, was that the trunk was rather cramped. The other was, Sam had no clue how they were going to get out of this one. He had no clue where they had Margery, no clue how to recuse her, and even if he did he had no clue how to get out of the trunk or what was going to happen to them all when they got wherever they were going.

Sometime the next day the trunk was opened, momentarily blinding him with the day's light. When he got his vision back he saw Monroe, backed by two men, holding out a hand to him. Apparently, they didn't think he was much of an escape risk.

When they pulled him out, there were two other men a few feet away from them, holding a bound Margery by the shoulders.

Sam ran to her, trying to pull her out of their grip. "Are you alright?" He asked, brushing her hair out of her face.

"I told you not to do it." Margery responded in a hushed voice.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way out." Sam whispered in her ear.

That was when the men grabbed a hold of her, pulling her away. "No," Margery exclaimed, panic, "No, no, no, no – "

"Hey!" Sam shouted, reaching to try to grab her, "Leave her alone!"

"Relax angel." Monroe said, "Just do as you're told and no harm will come to her. But we're going to want to hold onto her, you understand."

Sam's chest heaved as he watched them drag the struggling Margery away. Out of the truck he could take them all out. Apparently, the men had thought of that, and put a dagger to Margery's throat, causing her to freeze. He didn't have to say anything; the treat was clear enough.

And of course, there was Kimmie to think about. He had dragged her into this. Now he had to protect her, protect them both.

Sam allowed him to be lead into lab that took up a whole floor of the house, where a sinister-looking operating table lay waiting.

"What are you gonna do to him?" Kimmie, who was still with him, asked.

"Study him of course," Monroe answered as Sam was grabbed from behind by two of their goons, "This is a once in life time opportunity."

Sam let himself be strapped to the table and found a gag being forced in his mouth.

"It'll won't be a typical harvest I grant you." Monroe continued, "As since he is a non-renewable resource, and we got some big plans- "

Just then a woman in a cartoonish nurse's uniform pushed a medical tool tray, up to the table. "Thank you." Monroe said, putting on an apron. "Osceola," He began, looking up, "Care to do the honors?"

Kimmie froze for a moment.

"I figure since you missed your first harvest, and God knows what this angel and his lackeys put you through, you might want to be the one to do it." Monroe explained.

But Kimmie realized it was more than that. It was a test. A test to see if Joseph's assumptions were correct. And if she wanted to be of help to anyone, she had to past it.

She walked over and picked up a scalpel, trying to keep her face neutral. "Sorry, Sam." She said in a voice she hoped registered with Sam as sincere and with her family as the complete opposite, placing the tip of her blade on his chest.

Then they were both saved by the scalpel breaking.

"What the- "Jacob, who was also there, began in disbelief.

"Well, we probably should have seen this coming." Monroe admitted, "Guess we'll have to figure out some other way to do this."

Meanwhile, the others were trying to find a way to get their fiends back.

"We shouldn't have let them go." Lola declared, nervously pacing.

"How exactly where we going to stop them?" Castiel reasoned, "They were insistent."

"Yeah and we should have been more insistent." Dean responded, cleaning his gun, "With that hall, they're going to take them to the mother ship."

"Mother ship?" Lola repeated.

"Shreveport." Dean answered, grabbing a rifle in addition to the handgun and beginning to walk away.

"Ah, Dean," Kevin began, "Where are you doing?"

"What did I just say?" Dean responded, "Shreveport."

"You can't just walk in their guns blazing like a one-man army!" Amber protested, "You'll get them all killed."

"If by them you mean the Stynes, then yes." Dean quipped.

"Dean, they have an entire army." Cas protested, following Dean as he headed up the stairs.

"Not very good odds for them." Dean replied, still walking.

"Dean, what is the plan here?" Cas asked, guinely wanting to know.

"What do you think?" Dean responded, "Going in there, gunning down all the Stynes, and rescuing the damsels in distress."

Cas was suddenly worried that the Mark was starting to do its thing again. "Dean, you can't do that on your own." He insisted, "If you give me five minutes, I can get a squadron rounded up—"

"There's not time for that!" Dean snapped, "Besides, Sam wouldn't want any of them getting hurt for him. "

"And he'd want _you_ to get hurt?" Cas countered.

"Cas, you're not talking me out of this." Dean insisted.

Castiel realized that was true. "Then at least let me go with you."

Realizing Cas wasn't going to let up, Dean agreed, and the pair headed for Shreveport.

Dean was turning the corner when suddenly he heard sirens behind him. Suddenly a police car with flashing sirens appeared behind him.

Dean pulled over. Knowing they would ask for his license and registration, he pulled out the first fake I. D. he could find. He looked at it, frowning, then shrugged.

"Dean," Cas began nervously, catching the scene, "Is there an issue?"

"No." Dean assured him, "Thought maybe you should go invisible, just in case."

Cas turned insivel just as the cop walked up and Dean lowered the window. "What's the problem, officer?" Dean asked.

"License and reg." The officer requested.

"Yep." Dean agreed, handing it over.

"Ashley J. Williams, huh?" The cop read off the card skeptically.

"You can call me Ash." Dean informed him.

"Out of the car, Ashley." The officer ordered.

Dean obeyed, getting out of the car. "Well, I wasn't speeding, I'm sober, mostly sober, so what's this about?" He challenged.

"Blinker's out." The cop lied.

Just then another officer who was standing beside the car, took his night-stick and smashed the Impala's right-side taillight.

"Hey!" Dean protested the damage to his baby.

"That's a violation." The smashing officer added.

"Don't." Dean continued.

I response the second officer smashed the other taillight.

"Two lights out." The first officer mocked.

"Son of bitch!" Dean snapped, trying to charge as the second officer, only for the first officer to grab him, slamming him against the Impala, and handcuffed him.

"An attempted assault on a police officer." The first officer summarized, "Looks like we're taking you down to the station, boy."

"Oh, I ain't your boy, Cletus." Dean snarled defiantly.

"Right now, you are, so you best settle." The first officer threatened, "Or you're gonna get an ass-whuppin' instead of a phone call."

However, before the first offer could make good on the treat, he fell to the ground. The other officer's head whirled around, then he fell to the ground as well.

Seeing no need in staying hidden, Cas rematizlaied and uncuffed Dean.

"What do you think that was about?" Dean asked, as the cuffs came off.

"I'm assuming the Stynes alerted them you might be coming." Castiel speculated.

"Well, that's just great." Dean snarked.

Meanwhile, in spite of the failure to actually cut him open, Sam was still strapped to the operating table in the Stynes' basement. He figured they hadn't really taken that much thought into containing him, so this was the best they could manage while they regrouped. Apparently, they were making this up as they went along as much as he was.

So, he was taking this time along to try to get a link on Margery. With the warding less strong here, but still it had difficult to get an exact location, just that she was in the upper rooms, and that she was terrified.

Sam forced himself to stay on the table. Sure, he was alone now, but the minute they realized he was gone, they'd go right for her, and to say this was a big house would be a gross understatement. He needed an _exact_ lock before he could risk doing anything.

Just then there was the sound of footsteps on the tile. "You got something you want to tell me, Sam?" Monroe's voice asked.

Sam looked up as best he could. The evil patriarch was standing at the foot of the table, looking at Sam expectantly.

"Can you be a little more specific?" Sam asked.

"Jacob has been telling me some very interesting things." Monroe explained, "About you, your angel army, your seemingly human brother."

Sam froze in horror. What had they figured out?

"Now, you having a human brother, a human brother that happens to bear the Mark of Cain, but we can get back to that in a minute, brings up some _very_ interesting questions." Monroe continued, "Like how an angel has a human brother?"

"Adoption?" Sam responded, partly joking, partly hoping they would take it for a serious answer.

Monroe smiled. "Well, I suppose that is one option." He began, "But I have another theory, one that I need you to confirm or deny, and before you get any ideas about being stubborn, you should know I have one of my men in the room with your girl in a knife." He paused for a moment to let that sink in, "Now, you wouldn't happen to have been Samuel Winchester at any point, would you?"

Seeing no point in lying Sam responded, "Yes. And before you ask, I have no idea how this species change happened, or how it works. What's it to you?"

"Well, then," Monroe said, "There's a little experiment I'd like to try."


	96. The Prisoners

When Margery found herself kidnapped by bunch of quasi-satanic rednecks, she didn't expect to held in rich but tasteful drawing room tied to a Chippendale chair.

And yet here she was, ropes around her torso and arms securing her to said chair, struggling to get free.

"Will you stop that?" Her guard, or protentional torturer, or whatever he was supposed to be groaned, pointing his knife at her, "You're gonna hurt yourself."

 _Because your sooo concerned for my well-fair._ She thought.

Just then another man stepped into the doorway and knock, causing the other to turn around.

"Uncle Monroe wants us all downstairs." The man informed him.

"What about her?" The other asked, pointing to Margery.

"She'll keep." The man said as the other stood up, and with that they walked out of the room.

Margery eyed scanned the room. There had to be something in here she could use to cut herself lose.

Meanwhile, Dean and Castiel had the apparently corrupt officers cuff to two separate chairs in the nearest motel room they could find, Dean staring at them unblinkingly with a murderous look on his face.

"Okay," He began, "I'm gonna ask you one time and one time only. Who told you we were coming?"

"Nobody." The first officer replied.

Dean pulled out his gun, leveling it at him, "Nobody?"

"Dean…" Cas began nervously.

Dean punched the first officer in the face with a gun. "That is for lying for me, and that—" He bunched him again, "is for my baby."

"He doesn't like it when people mess with his baby." Cas explained, "And by baby, I mean his car."

"Now." Dean continued, pinning the guard down and put the gun to his throat, then yelled, "" Who told you we were coming?!"

"Monroe Styne." The Officer answered, "He said if I saw you I was supposed to bring you in. And call him."

"Monroe." Dean echoed, "Any relation to Jacob?"

"His daddy." The second officer answered.

Dean and Cas exchanged looks. That must have been the man leading the battle before. And the one who was pulling the strings now.

"Where can we find them?" Dean demanded.

"You can't take on the Stynes." The second officer warned, "They own this town. They're practically gods around here."

"Yeah, well, I kill gods." Dean quipped and prepared to fire, as he had feeling he already had the answer.

"Dean, don't," Cas tried, actually physically pulling Dean back.

"Come on, not like they don't have it coming!" Dean argued.

"Your car can be fixed!" Cas reasoned.

"It's not just about the car!" Dean shouted, elbowing Castiel in the face causing the angel to stagger backward, his head rearing back. When he righted himself, his nose was bleeding. In fact, it looked _broken._

Dean just stared for a moment. He had never hurt Cas before. He had never been _able_ to hurt Cas before. Something was clearly wrong. With both of them.

"Alright." Dean agreed, "Let's go get our people now."

Back at the Stynes' mansion, Sam heard someone walk into the lab.

"Sorry about the wait, Samuel," Monroe said, "If I may call you that."

"Sure." Sam responded, really not caring what the patriarch called him.

"It just took long to find a crucial ingredient to my little experiment." Monroe answered, "It's a bit hard to get lately since some idiot went and closed the gates of Hell."

"Okay, I'll bite, what is it?" Sam asked.

Monroe held the vile of dark red liquid for him to see, saying, "Oh, something I'm sure you'll be very familiar with."


	97. The Slaughter

"What is that?" Sam said, staring at, suddenly filled with dread. He honestly had no clue what that was beside blood, but something about it was sending off alarm bells.

"Demon blood," Monroe answered, "And believe you me, was it hard to get. I had to send my boys out, and they had to find one of the only remaining demons on the planet, subdue it, and drain it dry."

 _Maybe we should've been firmer with Crowley about telling us who had been topside when the gates closed._ Sam thought, beginning to squirm.

"You see," Monroe continued as the nurse bought an IV stand over, "I've always kind of wondered what happened when you mix an angel and a demon. And with," He gestured widely, "I have the perfect opportunity to find out."

Sam wasn't just squirming now, he was _struggling._ "I don't think biology works that way."

"Well, your biology is a little different than others, isn't it?" Monroe reasoned, "And before you get any ideas about trying to run off, I'll remind you we still have your pretty little friend."

Sam degraded back squirming, but still he squirmed. He wouldn't run, but they never said he had to make it _easy_ for them.

As Monroe moved to stick the needle into his vein, the sound of gunshots filled the house.

Back in the drawing room Margery had finally reached a crystal decanter set on the other side of the room. She managed to tilt the chair back enough to cause the table it was on to shake, filch as it shattered.

As she looked down she realized a problem with her plan: She had no way to get to the shards to actually cut herself free.

That was when she heard the gun shots.

Realizing that, that might be help, Margery tried to scream through the gag, starting to squirm beneath the ropes and shaking the chair.

The was when Castiel busted in, harried and covered in blood. He ran to her and removed the gag, asking, "Are you hurt?" as he untied her.

"Just bit of circulation cut off." Margery answered, rubbing her hands, "Did you get the others?"

"We're looking for them now." Cas answered. Immediately afterwards three more-gun shots rang out, "Provided Dean doesn't accidently kill them. Come on, let's get you out of here."

Meanwhile, Kimmie was running through the halls, a knife in her hand. If this was it, if her family was going down, there was still one of them she had to protect.

"Cyrus!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, "Cyrus, where are you?!"

Suddenly a dark-haired, bespectled teenage boy and out to meet you. "Ossie, are you alright?"

"I told you not to call me that." Kimmie snapped, taking his hand, "But yeah. Now, let's get out of here."

They ran down the hall only for Jacob to step in front of them. "So," He said sadly, "Looks like they were telling the truth after all."

"Please, Jacob." Kimmie begged, holding up the knife, "I don't want to hurt you."

"I don't think there's much chance of that." Jacob said before charging them.

Panicked, Kimmie raised her knife, hitting Jacob in the chest. Normally that wouldn't have done much damage, but Kimmie hit him in just the right spot to be fatal.

"I'm sorry," Kimmie gasped, "I didn't mean—"

"Sure, you didn't." Jacob gasped, coughing up blood, before falling to the ground, dead.

Kimmie stared at Jacob's body for a moment, shocked at what she had just done.

"Come on." Cyrus said, now taking her wrist and dragging her along.

Suddenly it occurred to her. "Wait," She requested turning back and pulling out the knife. "I still love him." She offered for an explanation then hurried down the stairs.

Elsewhere Dean was sounded by a pile of dead bodies. Hearing movement to the left, he turned, gun ready to fire, only to see he was aiming at Castiel and Margery.

"You alright?" Dean asked, lowering the gun.

Margery didn't respond, staring a gape at the bodies on the ground, feeling like she was going to be sick.

"What?" Dean responded, unsure what was wrong.

"Dean," Cas began, his voice lowered, "Was all this _really_ necessary?"

Dean was confused for a minute then when he realized what Cas was talking about said, "Of course it was necessary! These kidnapped her, kidnapped my brother, and are doing God only knows what to him right now, blackmailed us into giving them the most dangerous book on the planet, minus a few pages and had a couple of hicks trash my car!"

They heard movement on the stairs and Dean turned around, gun raised, aiming at Kimmie and Cyrus.

"Whoa, Dean relax." Kimmie pleaded urgently, "It's just me."

"What's with the knife?" Dean demanded.

"Let's just say I got that third ingredient." Kimmie answered solemnly.

"I'm sorry, Kimmie." Cas spoke up soberly. He knew killing family, even if they were evil, wasn't fun.

"What about him?" Dean continued harshly, gesturing at Cyrus with the gun.

"He's my baby brother." Kimmie answered, stepping in front of him as she realized where this was going, "He's not like them, I swear."

"Oh, he is like them." Dean replied threateningly, "Both of you are. There's bad in you. It's in your blood. Now you can deny it, and you can run from it, and you can atone for it all you want, but that bad…will always win."

"No!" Margery cried out before Dean could fire, lunging out and grabbing his arm and managing to raise it in the air before he got the shot off. "Run!"

They siblings didn't have to be told twice, running down the stars and away from the scene. They were long out of sight when Dean wrenched himself away, demanding, "What the Hell?!"

"Dean, you know Kimmie's not like them!" Margery exclaimed, "She's your only chance at getting that -that thing off your arm now and her brother-he's just a boy!"

Dean was about to open his mouth to argue where there was a _clash,_ from the lower levels.

"That's the basement." Margery announced," I think that's where they're keeping Sam."

"We're not done with this." Dean declared, before running to the basement.

"Come on, let's find where they went," Cas said, leading her away.

In the basement, Sam had broken free and he and Monroe were fighting it out.

"You're strong, I'll give you that." Monroe said as he hit the grown," But I'm pretty sure I can at least slow you down."

In the act of a desperate man whose world was falling apart around him, Monroe pulled out his gun and fired at Sam's head, but the bullet only bounced off his forehead, hitting Monroe Styne fatally in his own head.

That was Dean came running in. He froze, looked over at Sam then looked to the dead body. "Well, I guess you have everything under control here." He declared.

Just then out of nowhere the nurse charged them, holding a syringe. Sam made to stop her but this time Dean was faster, grabbing her and throwing her on the table, jamming the needle into her neck, killing her. He then turned back to Sam asking, "You alright?" as if they had never been interrupted.

"Yeah." Sam said slowly, somewhat disturbed by the display. "Did you find the others?"

"They should be outside by now." Dean answered, "Come on."

Sam grabbed Dean by the shoulder as teleported them outside, where the others were waiting, dazed and blood covered, by the Impala.

"Everyone alright?" Sam asked urgently.

He got a series of nods a "Yes," and an "I think so".

"Good." Dean said, pulling out his gun again, and aiming it at Kimmie and Cyrus, "Now, back to business."

"Dean!" Sam shouted, tackling him as Margery through herself in front of the two remaining members of the Styne family.

Sam teleported with Dean just as the gunshot went off.


	98. Welcome To The Fallout

They landed in a struggling heap on the floor of the bunker, the remaining witches, Kevin and a few angels running over to them.

"What happened?!" Hael demanded, "Kevin said you were taken."

"Could you say that any louder?!" Kevin snapped, the entire situation having him on edge.

"Where's Kimmie?" Lola demanded, "Where are the others?"

"They're out." Sammy replied, "I'm about to go back for them." And with that he took off.

When he got there, he saw Margery clutching her shoulder, Kimmie and Cyrus holding her upright with Castiel standing over her. "You need to remove your hand." He instructed her.

She did revealing a bloody shoulder wound that Cas quickly healed.

"I'm so sorry Dean did that." Sam spoke up, causing everyone to turn to him.

"It's fine, Sam." Margery assured him weakly.

"How can you be okay?" Kimmie balked, "He _shot_ you! And all you did was try to help us!"

"It's not him." Margery protested, "It's that damn Mark." Margery looked at Sam, "We need to get that off of him."

"We will." Sam promised, walking over to her and taking her in his arms, "But right now let's get you home, okay?" He looked to the others, "You mind driving the car back? Maybe that will give Dean time to come to his senses."

"Alright." Cas agreed, "Can you two get in the car while I talk to Sam a moment?"

"Sure, "Kimmie agreed softly, leading her brother, who was still in shock to the other side.

The men went to the side. "You wanna tell me what all that was about?" Sam requested.

"Dean killed over a dozen of the Stynes, or at least their men. "Castiel explained, "He slaughtered them. And then when Kimmie found us he tried to shoot both her _and_ her brother. Some nonsense about the bad in their blood always winning. If Margery hadn't had fought her for the gun…" His voice trailed off for a minute then he added, "And if we hadn't heard the commotion from the basement…"

Sam rubbed his face in distress. They had just turned Dean back into a human, what, 48 hours before and he was already going downhill? "Okay," He said finally, "Ah, I'm going to get Margery home and then I'll try to talk Dean off the ledge, you just get those kids back to the bunker in one piece, okay?"

"Okay." Cas agreed, "Good luck. I think you're going to need it."

When Sam landed back in the bunker, after dropping Margery off at her apartment, he found that Dean had already been beset by group of angry witches, angels, prophets and humans, reading him the riot act for his actions.

"Bad blood?" Kevin repeated, "What does that even mean?!"

"Sounds like some seriously racist crap." Amber sneered.

"You realize that, that could apply to you too?" Hael pointed out, "That could apply to both you and your brother a thousand times over!"

"Guys!" Sam spoke up, causing everyone to turn to him. Except for Dean, who's eyes were currently down in a show of remorse. Apparently, his words were getting to him.

"Where's Kimmie?" Lola demanded, turning back to Dean declaring, "If she's dead, I swear—"

"She's alive." Sam assured them all quickly," She and Cas and her brother are on their way back and Margery's at her apartment clinging to Luda for dear life."

"No thinks to Hulk here." Amber exclaimed, glaring at Dean.

"Name's calling's not…" Sam began.

"No, she's right." Dean cut him off, "I crossed the line." He looked down at the Mark. "Guys, this things' gotta go."

When Sam arrived he and Cas went up to the cabin and found Crowley hammering at something on a plank of wood.

"Hey, there, Crowley." Sam called out slowly, "Whatcha up to?"

"Making more fish jerky." Crowley answered, turning around and handing out thing yellow strips, "Would you like some, gentlemen?"

"Ah, no think you." Sam answered, "Listen, Crowley, we think you could help us with something."

"Anything!" Crowley beamed.

"My brother, Dean, ah, you remember him, right?" Sam asked. Given Crowley's mental state, he had to check.

"Of course, I do!" Crowley beamed, "How could I forget Dean?"

"Well, um, he has the Mark of Cain on him." Sam explained.

Crowley's eyes widened. "That's horrible." He breathed, "Oh, I am so sorry Samuel."

"Thanks." Sam replied awkwardly, "But ah, we actually found a possible cure. But ah, we don't know where some of the ingredients are and…we were hoping you could help us find them."

"Well, what are they?" Crowley asked.

"The fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the golden calf." Cas answered.

"Do you have a piece of paper?" Crowley asked, "I can't get them for you myself anymore, but I can tell you where they are."

Sam pulled out a piece of scrap paper and a pen and handed it to Crowley, who started quickly scribbling on it. "Here you go." He declared handing it back to Sam.

Sam looked at the instructions and his eyes widened. "Oh, is this all?!" He asked sarcastically.

"It should be no trouble for mighty archangel such as yourself." Crowley said sincerely.

 _We need to check up on him more._ Sam thought, _I think he's starting to lose it even more._ Then he sighed. "Thanks, Crowley."


	99. The Two And Half Labors of Sam

Sam landed on the terrene of large house and relatively not war-torn part of Palestine. He looked around, only to find himself alone.

At least for five seconds. Suddenly a man in a white lien suit burst through the glass doors. "Who the Hell are you?!" The man demanded, "What are you doing here?!"

"Clam down." Sam urged, "My name is Sam Winchester. Crowley sent me."

"Crowley?" The man repeated.

Sam nodded, thought he had a feeling confirmation of his association with the Ex-King of Hell would have the opposite effect.

"Then you can give him a message for me." The man said, then rising his hands at Sam and began to chant.

Suddenly a bolt of energy flew at Sam who wrapped his wings to shield himself. He didn't really need to do that, it was more for show.

"An angel, huh?" The warlock responded, "So, what did the old coot send you for?"

"He didn't actually send me." Sam replied, "It was more of a—recommendation for something I need."

"And what makes you think I'll help you?" The warlock challenged, "I got enough problems of my own without taking on yours."

"Well, I'm willing to bargain." Sam told him.

"Sit down." The warlock requested.

And so, they sat that table on the terrace and Sam explained, minus a few details he'd rather not divulge, what he came there for.

"The Quince of knowledge of good and evil, eh?" The warlock said when Sam was done, "I can get it for you, but it won't be easy. What can you offer me in return?"

"Anything you want." Sam answered, though he knew where that could lead.

The warlock mauled it over. "Tell you what," He began, "You wait here while I go get the quince and you'll owe you a massive favor."

"I don't know yet." The warlock admitted, pushing bac from the table, "Now, just wait here. I'll be a few minutes.

A few minutes turned out to be two hours. Sam was about to take off, when the warlock walked back through the door holding too round yellow fruits. "I assume these will be sufficient?"

"Yes." Sam answered, taking it. The spell didn't have exact ingredients. "Thank you."

"Don't think me yet." The Warlock responded, "Remember, you still owe me that favor."

"Right." Sam said awkwardly before taking off.

Things in Jordan did not go nearly as smoothly.

"No, I am not doing a public orgey with you!" Sam screamed at the artifact dealer, having reached with his limit.

"Then I guess you don't want that gold." The dealer replied, stroking the cat in his lap.

Sam couldn't believe this was happening for _so_ many reasons. "Look, I don't swing that way and even if I did I don't want to make my sex life a spectacle." He replied, "Plus, I'm pretty sure it's illegal in this country. The public part in all countries. I will do anything else, kill a werewolf, clean your cat's litter box—"

"Actually," The dealer cut him off, "There is something you can do for me."

That was how Sam wound up and Syria standing across the from a dozen or so Dijn who were standing between him and the tree of life. One of the Dijn charged him, trying to stab Sam with a knife, forcing him to smite the creature. Two more jumped on his, one actually biting them, but he threw them off. One lay still but the other came back, forcing Sam not only to stab him but another who came at him from the side.

"Stand down." A woman's voice ordered before another wave happened.

They Djinn backed away making a path for a tea-colored woman covered in exotic tattoos with long black hair walked down the row, holding herself regally.

"What the Hell- "Sam began

"I am Marah, Queen of the Dijn, "Or at least these Dijn. What is your business here and why did you attack my people?"

"First off, they attacked _me_ \- "Sam began.

Marah narrowed her eyes, and Sam knew he was approaching the wrong way.

Sam took a moment then composed himself, saying, "Look, your Majesty—I need some of your fruit. Only a few, for my brother."

Marah seemed intrigued. "Perhaps we could come to an—arrangement."

Three hours of negotiating later, Sam arrived back at the dealer's warehouse with a bag of fruit.

"I'm married to a Dijn queen now, but I got the fruit." Sam declared, slamming the bag on the desk, "Now pay up."

The man opened the drawer and slid out a large chunk of gold. "My regard to the new misuses."

When he arrived at the bunker they were all waiting for him. "Here." He said, handing the ingredients to Kimmie.

"What did you have to do to get it?" Dean asked.

"Let me put it this way," Sam answered, "You have a sister in law now."

"Oaky," Kimmie said, preparing to throw the ingredients in the bowl, "let's get this show on the road, "Ab _maneu dei…Ab maneu hominis."_ She threw the ingredients in the bowl." _Ab cruroe cordis Mei adfusruro in aeternum. Tolle maledictioneim tuam ab hoc viro."_

As Kimmie added Dean's hair to the bowel, a blueish smoke started to raise and light illuminated Kimmie's face. As blast wave erupted from the bowl that knocked everyone around it over. A blot of red lighting blasted from the bowl, striking Dean's forearm. His arm started to glow and the Mark disappeared. The light blasted from his arm, creating a hole in the roof.

Staring as the Marked faded, Dean commented, "Maybe lifting the warding wasn't the best idea."

"I'll clean it up." Sam volunteered, and immediately the ceiling started growing back, "So, how are you feeling?"

"Okay." Dean replied, "Not murderous."

Suddenly there was another loud crashing sound.

"What the h-?" Sam began.

Dean got up and ran to the door, throwing it open and stepping out. The red lighting crackled across the sky and repeated hit the ground around him. The ground started to rumble and columns of black smoke erupted from where the lightening had struck. They converged on one spot into a huge rolling could of black smoke.

Black smoke heading right for Dean.


	100. Hello Darkness

Dean was surrounded by the dark cloud. He looked around wildly until, of all things, a beautiful woman in an elegant floor length black dress appeared before him.

"Hey!" He called out to her, "What the Hell is going on?!"

"Don't be afraid." The woman told him, "I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" Dean responded "For what? Who are you?"

"I'm the Darkness." The woman answered, "And you freed me. Thank you."

 _Well, that's no ominous at all._ Dean thought, but out loud said, "Well, now that you've said your thanks, let's talk about what happens next."

"I like it here." The woman-the Darkness apparently, said, smiling, "With you. I haven't felt this peaceful in a long, long time."

"Well, lucky me." Dean snarked, "Can you, um, tell me how I freed you?"

The Darkness pointed to his arm. "That was a lock keeping me imprisoned."

 _Wish I knew that before._ Dean thought, but said aloud, "So, the Darkness. What does that even mean?"

"I was there before time began." The Darkness answered, "But God thought I was dangerous enough to lock away."

 _Also wish I know_ that _before._ Dean thought, but out loud asked, "If you're that bad, why haven't you hurt me?" It was a valid question.

"For the same reason you'll never hurt me." The Darkness replied.

"I won't?" Dean responded.

"No." The Darkness confirmed, then she pulled back her dress to reveal the minicure Mark of Cain on her collarbone, "We're bound, Dean. We'll always be bound. You helped me. I helped you. No matter where I am, who I am…we will always help each other."

Before Dean could protest, he blacked out.

"Hey!" Dean could suddenly hear Sam shouting, "Hey!"

Dean's eyes fluttered open, and he found himself surrounded by Sam and the others, who were now outside. He groaned and stood up as Sam asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah." Dean answered, "Everyone else?"

"Yeah." Kevin spoke up, "What was that?"

"Dean, what do you remember?" Sam asked, hoping to get to the bottom of this.

Suddenly Dean remembered. "She saved me."

"What?" Sam responded, "Who?"

"The Darkness." Dean answered.


	101. God's Sister

"The Darkness?" Sam repeated, "What does that even mean?"

"She was pretty verge about it." Dean admitted, starting to pace, "But basically this big bad—thing that God had imprisoned and the Mark was apparently the lock and the key."

"Wish we knew that before." Kimmie answered.

"And she told you she was called the Darkness?" Sam asked, trying to get all the information possible on this.

"No." Dean snarked, "She was wearing a name tag. What do you think? And then she thanked me."

"For what?" Sam asked, thought he feared he knew the answer.

"Setting her free." Dean answered.

"Well, we all did that." Kimmie spoke up again, suddenly ashamed of her part in this.

"Does it matter?" Dean questioned, "Like I said, lock and key."

"So, what, she feels indebted to you or something?" Sam speculated.

"I don't know." Dean admitted, "She's a Darkness. Does she feel anything?"

"And that's all she said?" Sam continued, "Thanks?"

"Yeah." Dean lied, "She was weird. But she had this energy about her, this—focus. But yeah, not a talker."

"So, we know jack." Sam recapped,

"Well, we know what she looks like, and we know that she's evil." Dean countered.

" _Do_ we know that?" Lola spoke up.

"She's called The Darkness, Lo." Amber spoke up, "That sound like a good thing?"

"It's not." Miriam spoke up, "In Heaven, we knew of her—or at least the concept. We didn't even know it was female, and we certainly didn't know about the Mark's connection."

"But we thought it was myth." Castiel spoke up.

"Sort of like an angelic, demonic boogeyman." Hael added, "I imagine half of Hell is freaking out right now."

"Okay, so we know that now." Dean took over again, "The question is, what does she know? I mean, she's been locked away since the beginning of time. Does she even know what a cheeseburger is? All I know is that we set her free and we are gonna put her back whatever it takes."

Suddenly Sam got an idea. "And I think I know where we need to start."

The brothers marched down the hall, and found Metatron right where the left him, chained to the chair.

"Well, it's about time your remembered I was here!" The ex-leader complained.

"Zip it." Sam ordered, picking up the chair, "I'm not in the mood."

"Do you really have to do this every time?" Metatron continued anyway, "Can't you just interrogate me in the hallway? I think it would be easier on everybody!"

Dean rolled his eyes a groaned. "Maybe we could try to—appease the Darkness by feeding him to her!"

That stunned Metatron into silence. "W-What?!"

Seeing no point in denying it, Dean repeated, "The Darkness. Long story short, we let her out and you are gonna tell was what she is."

"H-How did you idiots manage do that?!" Metatron sputtered, "Do you have any ideas what you have just done?! Who you've unleashed?!"

"No, that's why we won't you to tell us." Sam replied, "Who did we unleash?"

Too panicked to even think of trying mind games, Metatron exclaimed, "Only God's sister!"


	102. It's The End Of The World As We Know It

"God's sister?" Sam repeated, "What does that even, mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Metatron replied, "His sister, who he had to betray and sacrifice to create the world, and now she's free and—and—and probably really pissed!"

"God's freaking sister." Dean groaned. That didn't sound good.

Just then Miriam entered the room. "There's something going on the police scanner." She announced, "You better come."

That was how two angels and human flew down the road, coming up a gruesome scene. As series of dead bodies and a crashed car.

"What the Hell happened here?" Dean balked.

There was a sound from behind them. "Hello?" Sam called out.

That was when they saw a creepy guy approaching them with a deadly look in his eye.

"Oh, that is not a happy sight." Dean declared, "Hey, easy buddy. Just stay cool until we figure out what's going on here, okay?" The man, however, continued to walk towards them, "Kind of narrowing my options here."

"We don't even know what he is." Sam declared. And it was true. The dark-veined creature was unlike anything he had ever seen before. "Get behind me."

However, before Sam could do anything, a young dark-haired woman in a deputy uniform shot the man the creature from behind, then aimed her weapon at the trio. "Weapons on the ground." She ordered, "Slow."

Sam took off landing back near the deputy, grabbing her gun.

"How did you—" She balked.

That was when Sam saw her leg wound. "Bad guys?"

"Rebar." The deputy answered, "I sought cover. I fell."

"Here," Sam offered, "Let me help." He put his hands over the wound and began healing it.

"How are you—" The deputy gapped.

"Long story," Sam cut her off," Ah, you got a name?"

"Jenna." The deputy answered.

"Okay, Jenna." Dean spoke up, "Why don't you tell us what happened here?"

"911 reported a family in distress." Jenna answered, "I arrived to find serval hostiles attacking the family. Oh, God, it was horrible."

"How long you been on the job, deputy?" Dean asked.

"Okay, un, I'm Dean. "He began, "This is Cas. The guy who just healed you is Sam. Just breathe. Okay? Speak plain. What happened?"

"They killed them all." Jenna answered.

"Who?" Sam asked.

"Road crew." Jenna answered, "It was-they were like rabid dogs. I fired off a warning, but they didn't stop. They…"

"You kill all these?" Dean asked, looking at the bodies.

"I knew some of the boys, but they didn't look—something was wrong." Jenna responded, "They were…"

"They're not human." Sam cut her off, then turned to his brother, "Get her to safety while me and Cas work on this."

"Sure." Dean agreed, "Don't worry, you can trust us."

"Just in case, can you show me your throats?" Jenna requested, "They ah, all had this black veining in their necks."

They indulged Jenna's reasonable requests, then the pairs parted ways.

"So, what are you thinking?" Sam asked as they examined the bodies.

"I honestly don't know what to think Sam, or what to expect." Castiel answered.

"This is the Darkness, right?" Sam reasoned, "It's got to be?"

"But how come none of us were affected?" Cas wondered aloud.

"Well were all inside and Dean was—he said she protected her. "Sam figured, "So I mean, maybe it wasn't here. Maybe it was the smoke, and anyone who was outside, like the road crew, they were exposed. I mean, you saw that. That wasn't human."

"So, the smoke mutated them?" Cas speculated.

"Sure, why not?" Sam responded, "At this point I'm pretty much open to anything."

"But mutated into what?" Cas asked.

"One thing at a time." Sam responded, "Let's just see how far it's spread and work from there."

Meanwhile, Dean noticed something going on in a hospital they were passing.

"Crap." Dean said, going for his gun.

Jenna cocked her rifle, which she had reclaimed from Sam. "Not a chance."

"Look, we don't know what's in there—" Dean began.

"I'm a cop." Jenna insisted, "I have a duty."

Not wanting to take the time argue, Dean conded. "Okay, but I lead."

They walked in and were met with a scene right out of a horror movie, bodies littering the floor and not a living person in sight.

"I got to call this in." Jenna told Dean referring to the destruction and bodies on the floor.

"No, bad idea." Dean shout her down, "More people, more bodies. We'll deal with this. You know this place?"

"Yeah." Jenna agreed.

"Then let's take a look around." Dean suggested.

The pair sneaked down several hallways and found nothing, then they found what remained of the road crew trying to break into a supply closet. They both ducked back to hide, but then a baby cried and they went back to pounding on the closet.

 _Sam,_ Dean began to pray, _we got a situation. There's a baby and a bunch of rabid construction workers._

"Cas, I have to go." Sam told the other angel, back at the sight, "Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine." Cas assured him, "Go."

Sam landed in front of Dean and Jenna, who at that point had given up on questioning anything at that point. Dean gestured to his head to where the monsters were.

Sam flew, sneaking up on the road crew smiting two of them, then suddenly the rest fell to the ground.

"What the-?" Sam began, taking the pulse of one of the ones they didn't kill. It was dead. Then he, never what Dean had said about a baby, he knocked on the door. "Hello? Hello?"

"Is he dead?" A man's voice asked in the closet.

"Yeah, um…Yeah, he's dead." Sam confirmed, "It's okay to come out. I'm uh, FBI here. I'm gonna slide by badge under the door, okay?" Then he did so, to assure the man he was a friendly.

The door opened revealing a man holding a new born wrapped in a pink hospital blanket, indicating it was girl. The man stepped out into the hallway. "Help us, please." He pleaded.


	103. A Baby Changes Everything

"The doc said it was gonna be a tough birth, but Jamie…she stepped up." The man, Mike, recounted, "The twister hit, the power went out. She just kept going. No drugs. Just pushed out this little dew drop like she was nothing. Then Janine started bleeding. They tried, but…You'd think they'd know how to stop something like that."

"I'm so sorry, Mike." Jenna told him sincerely.

"You think you could tell us what happened here?" Dean asked.

"I went outside after…t'collect myself." Mike responded, "A truck load of 'em pulled up."

"The road crew?" Sam guessed.

"They didn't say nothing." Mike said, in way of confirmation, "The just went off, attacking folks like they were possessed. I tore back inside to get this little one. I found that supply closet, and you know, been there since. I could hear them, though. Tearing through the halls. Doctors, nurses—they didn't care."

"You said the road crew went nuts." Sam recapped, "Did any of them come after you?"

"They did." Mike confirmed soberly, realizing where this was going.

"I don't understand." Jenna spoke up, "What are you saying?"

"Saying whatever it is, it might be transmittable." Dean explained.

"What?" Jenna balked, "We don't even know what this is? Now you're saying it can be passed on?"

"He's right." Mike confirmed, "I can feel it. Inside. Something's happening."

"How long has it been since you were attacked?" Dean asked.

"Three, four hours." Mike guessed, "The real question is, how long till I become like them?"

"Maybe you don't have to." Sam realized, "Can I see the baby for a moment?"

"She can see her." Mike negotiated, looking at Jenna, "I know you. I've seen you in church since you were knee high. Please."

Jenna accepted the baby. "I don't even own Guinea Pig." Just when she thought she couldn't be anymore scared than she already was, this happened.

"With luck you'll be able to give her back." Sam declared, approaching Mike. He put his hand to the man's chest and the hand began to admit a glow as he healed the man. When he was finished, he removed the hand. "How do you feel now?"

"I—I can't feel it anymore." Mike declared, "It's gone." He let out a shutter sigh of relief. "Thank you. I don't know how you did it but thank you."

"Don't thank us just yet." Dean responded, before turning to his brother, "Sam, ah, due to the circstances, I think maybe we should quarantine him for a few days just to be sure."

Sam looked to Mike. "That okay with you?"

"Yes." Mike agreed. He didn't want to hurt anyone, especially he his baby girl, so better safe than sorry.

They took Mike, the baby and Jenna back to the bunker, then continued to search the hospital. They came to the bottom of a set of stairs and found a back of rabids, as they were now calling them.

"So how do you want to do this?" Dean whispered to Sam, letting him take the lead on this one.

"Well, this worked last time." Sam responded, then took off. He landed in front of the first rabid, a female, sneaking up from behind. Except this time instead of smiting, he healed the woman.

The woman looked around, confused.

"It's okay." Sam assured her, "Just go to the man at the top of the stairs, he'll take care of you." For the next part of his plan it was better if no one knew they were related.

One by one Sam healed each rabid they found and kept them in the hospital under the guise of a CDC quartentine. Given the circumstances it wasn't exactly hard to pull off, even though some of the doctors seemed—odd.

"Okay, so what's the long-term plan?" Dean asked, as he walked into the room where Sam was surrounded by books and a lab top, "I mean, if she makes more of those things even you can't heal them all."

"Which is why," Sam began, "I'm looking for a cure."

"Well, ah, no offense, but is that really the priority right now?" Dean responded.

"You said it yourself, Dean, she could make more of those things." Sam replied, "And I got people working in the Darkness issue."

Just then Hannah's voice called out, "Commander? We found another one!"

"You see?" Sam responded, getting up to see about the new rabid.

Sam walked into the ward when they had the man handcuffed to one of the beds.

"What's your name?" Sam asked.

"Bite me." The rabid man replied.

"Okay, 'Bite Me' how long have you been infected?" Sam inquired.

"Why do you ask?" The rabid man replied, "You want to know how much time we have left?"

"I want to know everything." Sam answered.

"Uh-huh." The rabid man responded, "What's in it for me?"

"Well, if I can find a cure –" Sam began.

"'If'." The man cut him off harshly, "I want something real…something I can hold in my hands."

"Like what?" Sam countered.

"Your pudding." The rabid man answered, looking at a nearby tray.

Sam threw him the pudding cut, which he took and ate with his fingers.

"So?" Sam began, "When were you infected?"

"This morning." The man answered.

"Wait a second." Sam responded, having some idea of the disease progression by that point, "They why—"

"Am I so far along?" The rabid man cut him off again, "Don't know. This thing, it ain't math. I seen some people change fast, some people change slow. But in the end…. We all end up the same. We go physco. And then we go boom."

"Well, that's no—I'm gonna fix this." Sam vowed.

"LIAR!" The rabid man screamed at the top of his lungs, "I'm dead. I'm just taking my sweet time about it. So, if you were smart you'd put a bullet in me."

Unable to let the man go like this, Sam reached over and healed him.

"W-what did you do?" The man asked in shock.

"You'll have to stay here a little while, but we're sure it worked you can go home." Sam responded.

Sam found it in an obscure tome, almost like a gift.

"Dean!" He exclaimed, turning to face his half-asleep brother, who jolted up at the sound of his name.

"What?" Dean asked in half-asleep voice, "What is it?"

"Where's the holy oil?" Sam responded.

"Trunk of the car." Dean answered, "Why?"  
"I need it." Sam answered, "And something to burn it with. And a rabid."

It just so happened they had brought a new rabid in, a woman. She grunted and moaned while the Darkness brunt out of her. Then, when it was gone, she looked up at Sam gratefully. "Thank you."

"No problem." Sam replied, before turning to others, "Let's go save the rest of them."

By the time they had cured everyone that had been infected both by healing and by holy fire, the quatrine was over.

"So, where are you going to go?" Dean asked, seeing Mike, the baby, Amara, and Jenna off at the bus station.

"Jenna's grandmother letting me stay with her a couple of days, then I'm heading on to my mother's from there." Mike answered.

"Well, good luck." Dean said, "To both of you."

Three hours, the trio got off the bus at a gas station to change Amara's dipper. As Mike pulled the onesie down, he noticed a strange little birthmark on her collar bone. Thinking that was all it was, a birthmark, he caressed it a moment, then set about the business of changing the dipper.


	104. Father Sam

They had only been at Jenna's grandmother's a day when it happened. Jenna was sleeping in her old bedroom and Mike was sleeping in the hall by Amara's nursery when they were both awaken by a thumping, knocking sound.

"Did you hear that?" Jenna's grandma asked, coming into the room, "Sounded like raccoons—"

"That was not a racoon." Jenna responded, leaping up.

When they got to the nursery Mike was already standing there, watching in shock as a wailing Amara spun blocks in the air, before slamming them into the wall with a very clear message: FEED ME.

"Mary, mother—" Jenna's grandma began, then seeing the others running for the baby, cried out, "No, Jenna, Mike, don't! Jenna no! The devil's in that girl!"

"What?" Jenna and Mike responded simoniously.

"I'm calling Father Wyatt." Jenna's grandma declared, fleeing the room.

"Grandma, no." Jenna responded, following her out into the hall while Mike tended to his daughter.

"Well who we gonna call?" Her grandma challenged.

Dean was driving back to the bunker, his phone rang. "Ghostbusters." He quipped as he answered, "Jenna, hey. Uh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. What's wrong?"

After Jenna told him what had happened and gave directions to her grandmother's house, Dean called Sam.

"I mean, it sounds like something out of _The Exorcist._ " Sam said, once Dean had finished the story.

"That's what I said." Dean agreed.

"So, you thinking demon?" Sam asked.

"Or kid got infected by something." Dean suggested, "You know, who knows what in that giant crazy fart?"

"Wow." Sam responded, "Vivid. Thanks. I'll be there in five."

"Are you sure?" Dean replied, "I mean, we still need someone on the bigger picture."

"Cas and the others are on it." Sam reasoned and took off before Dean could argue.

When Dean pulled up, Jenna was waiting for him. "Hey." He said, stepping out, "Where's the kid?"

"We got another problem." Jenna replied.

"Figures." Dean responded.

"We tried to stop her, but my grandma's real Catholic, and after the crazy, she called her Priest, who sent over an exorcist."

"Really?" Dean asked, as surprisingly enough he actually hadn't seen a lot of those.

"Yeah." Jenna replied.

Jenna and Dean entered the house to fine an oddly tall, oddly long-haired priest drinking tea.

"Hello, my son." Sam greeted him somewhat awkwardly.


	105. Shattered Dreams

"Sam?" Dean responded.  
"'Father' Samuel." Sam corrected awkwardly.

"Do you know each other?" Jenna's Grandma asked.

"Yes." Sam answered, then said the first lie that came into his head, "Dean was an…altar boy."

"Can I talk to you outside…Father?" Dean requested.

"Of course." Sam agreed, standing up.

The pair step outside the house. "Really? Father Samuel? Really?"

"Look, I wasn't planning on doing it this way." Sam explained, "It's just I came here and she was already expecting so I just—reality wrapped my clothes and went with it. I'm surprised Jenna didn't give me away."

"Yeah, she didn't tell me either." Dean agreed, "Maybe you accidently did some mind mojo on her."

"Yeah, I'll need to look to into that." Sam replied, "So, so far I haven't found out anymore than what Jenna told. So, we go back in actually look at the baby?"

Meanwhile, Mike was in the nursery with his baby, bouncing her up and down. "Whatever's wrong, Dean will fix it." He assured her, "Yeah, it's okay."

"So, you think there's a demon in there?" Dean asked, as they walked back in.

"No." Sam replied, "I'm getting nothing like that here."

Meanwhile, Jenna's grandma put the kettle on downstairs. In Amara's room, Jenna was taking the child from Mike.

Jenna's grandmother heard a thump from upstairs and clutched her Crucifix necklace.

"Whatever 's going on in that house, I could taste the power radiating from it the second I stepped in." Sam explained outside.

At the same time Jenna suddenly entered the kitchen with her grandmother.

"Oh, Jenna!" Her grandma exclaimed, "Oh! You scared me."

"That thing…" Sam continued, "It's old…"

"What'd you do, throw a ball up there?" Jenna's Grandma asked of her in the kitchen.

"…Deep..." Sam continued outside.

"Jenna?" Her grandma asked inside, realizing something was wrong with the girl.

"…Dark…" Sam went on.

"I always wanted to try this." Jenna said, pulling out a knife.

The night was then filled with the elderly woman's screams.

"Jenna?" Dean called out, "Jenna!"

Then they both took off into the house.

 **AN: So, I'm going out of town for a few weeks and I'm not sure if I'll be able to update from where I am. But I'll start right back where I left off when I get back.**


	106. Soulless

"Jen!" Dean called out, "Jenna!"

"Jenna!" Sam repeated, though he wasn't sure that letting the ancient, world-shattering evil know they were coming was a good idea.

That was when Amara started coming from the other room.  
"Go." Sam told him, "I'll find Jenna."

Dean ran into the nursery and found Mike lying on the floor, blood pouring from his head, and Amara in her crib, wailing. "Mike!" Dean called out, checking for a pulse. His body was cold and there was no pulse to be found.

He turned his attention to Amara. "It's okay, sweetheart." Dean lied soothingly, "I'm just gonna make sure you're not hurt." Then he pulled down the onesie and found something utterly horrifying.

The Mark of Cain was on Amara's collar bone.

Not only that but Dean suddenly found himself unable to move, as if the child had some sort of spell on him, and the Darkness' words rang out in his mind. _We're bound, Dean. We'll always be bound. We will always help each other._

Dean tore himself away and ran from the room. Now they _really_ had to find Jenna.

They found Jenna in her grandmother's bedroom, coolly breaking figurines.

"Crap." Sam gasped, realizing what was wrong.

"Jenna?" Dean asked, "What are you doing?"

"My grandmother collected these things, but I always thought there we so…Blah." Jenna responded, "Don't worry. She won't care. I cut her throat."

"Why did you do that?" Dean asked, horrified. What happened to the good-hearted police officer they met, and how had it happened in less than five minutes?

"Because she doesn't have a soul." Sam swallowed, "Not anymore at least."

"What are you talking about?" Dean demanded, "How is that even possible?"

"Amara's hungry." Jenna answered, "She's a growing girl."

The brothers exchanged horrified looks as they realized the implication. "Jenna," Dean began, "Listen to me, whatever's happened, whatever's going on, we can fix it, okay?"

"But I don't want to be fixed." Jenna replied, "I like the new me. She's a ball."

That was when Sam reached out and touched Jenna's forehead, rendering her unconscious, falling to the ground. "Okay," Sam began, "I'll deal with her, you deal with the soul-eating baby."

"Sam, there's something I think you should know." Dean replied, "I think Amara is the Darkness."

"What?" Sam balked.

And so, Dean explained that he had saw.

"All right, I still don't understand." Sam said once Dean was finished, "I mean, I though the Darkness was a woman, not a child."

"Well, same here." Dean agreed, "I don't know. Maybe whatever I saw wasn't real. Maybe it was a vision."

"Vision?" Dean repeated.

"Yeah." Dean an answered.

"Well, in that case," Sam began, handing Jenna to Dean, "You deal with her, _I'll_ deal with the soul-eating baby."

"What?" Dean responded.

"Dean, "I'm not henna force you to kill a baby." Sam responded, "And I saw the way you looked at her." Sam took off, landing in the nursery and ran straight for the crib, but his eyes widened in shock.

Amara was gone.


	107. The Death Of Cain

"What do you mean, gone?" Cas demanded, when they all regrouped at the bunker.

"I mean, I went to— "Sam's voice trailed off, then he said, "-Do what I had to do, she wasn't there for me to do it!"

"Well then where did she go?" Dean put in, "She's a baby, it's not like she could just get up and walk away. I've met babies, they're very slow. Just ask Hagar."

"Of course, this is God's sister we're dealing with, so she could be able to teleport of is growing at a rapid rate." Cas suggested.

"Which means she could be anywhere." Sam ran his hangers through his hair, letting out a distressed sigh, "Okay, let's focus on what we actually _can_ deal with right now. What are we gonna do about Jenna?"

"I don't think there's anything we can do." Cas admitted. "It's not like with you where your soul was out there somewhere, hers had literally been consumed. I'm afraid her only options are learning to cope without it—"

"Which considering she just killed her own grandmother is highly unlikely." Dean cut in ruefully.

"Yes." Castiel agreed, sounding somewhat annoyed at being interrupted, "So our best options are imprisoning her, or—and you're going to hate me for saying this—killing her outright."

"Well, that's not an option." Dean declared.

Sam, however, was silent, appearing to be mauling it over.

Sam," Dean began, worriedly, "I'm not going to have to stick you in that dungeon too, am I?"

"I think it would get a bit crowded, since we already got at least one permanent guess there." Sam answered, referring to Jenna.

Dean let out a sigh of relief.

Cas wasn't sure this was the best idea but said nothing.

"Now come in." Sam commanded, "We got a phycho goddess to find."

Meanwhile, Jenna was in the dungeon, struggling to get free from her chains.

And she wasn't the only one in there.

"So, what's your story?" Metatron asked.

"Stabbed my grandmother to death." Jenna answered, still fighting her bonds.

Metatron was actually surprised, as it didn't really seem like the Winchester's kind of thing. "Um, seems a little out of the boys' wheelhouse…"

"Well, I did it after a magic baby ate my soul." Jenna explained.

"Oh." Metatron responded, "Sounds a bit more like them.

That was when Jenna got an idea of how to free herself. Something she read in a book. It had scared her at the time but now it was almost funny…

Meanwhile, Amara was walking down a back road. It was night, almost deserted.

As Castiel had predicted she was a small child now, about six. She had stolen a dress but wished she had taken some time to find some shoes.

"What are you doing out all along in the dark, little girl?" A voice from behind her asked.

She turned around to see a man with a long dark beard, dressed in a long coat standing behind her, holding a knife.

"Hello, Cain." She repeated him, recognizing the former holder of the loc to her prison.

"So, the rumors are true." Cain responded. They had spread fast, and Cain had traced the Darkness down, whatever it was, even faster.

"Yes." Amara confirmed, "I'm sorry, Cain, I share no bond with you now. Not like the one I share with Dean."

"That's not why I', here." Cain told her.

"I know." Amara replied, soberly.

Cain hadn't been expecting this. Hadn't expected the great evil that had suddenly entered the world to be a child, or at least in the form of one. Still, he raised his knife.

However, before the blade could make contact he could feel his essence oiled from his body.

Amara consumed the first and last Knight of Hell, and his shell fell to the ground.

Suddenly Amara could feel her body start to stench as her clothes ripped to pieces. It wasn't painful exactly just—stage. After a few seconds she looked down and saw her hands were larger, not that of an adult, but an older child than she had been moments before.

Suddenly there was a rut=styling from the trees, causing Amara to turn around. Out of the bushes came a tanned skinned woman with her onyx-colored hair pulled up, holding a gun. "IH, Ny God," She hashed lowering her gun, "Sweetie, what are you doing out here? Where are your clothes?"

Amara just held up a scrap of cloth.

The woman's eyes went to the body on the ground.

"He's dead." Amara tad her, looking at the body coldly.

A thousand scenarios, each more horrible than the last ran though her head as she took off her leather jacket, rushing to the girl, not realizing the danger she was in. "Okay, let's get too somewhere warm and we can figure this out, okay?" She said, "Your got a name, Sweetie?"

Amara." She answered.

"Don't worry, Amara." The woman assured her, "You're safe now."


	108. A Child Is Given

The woman, who told Amara her name was Veronique lead her to a clearing with a Robin's egg blue Victorian house with a large front porch.

"Why do you live all the way out here?" Amara asked, curiosity overtaking her. At least this would likely make it easier when she became hunger again, being this far out. Cain had left her oddly sated for the moment.

"Well, partly because we always wanted to live in the country, partly because—well, we don't need to get into that right now." Veronique answered as they walked up the porch steps.

Veronique opened the door and they stepped inside. "Jacks, can you come here a minute, please?" She called out, "We have a bit of a, ah, situation."

A woman with long red hair came down the stairs, freezing a moment she saw the pair. "Who is this?" She asked, "And why is necked?"

"This is Amara." Veronique explained "And—well, she hasn't explained that yet. Mind getting her some clothes?"

Less than five minutes later Amara found herself in a slightly oversized blue calico dress, sitting at a smooth round table, a red mug of some sort of creamy brown liquid in front of her.

"Looks like Roberta's fashion sense and concept of size came in hand after all." Veronique commented, mostly to herself before addressing the girl in front of her and her partner. "So, Amara, sweetie, what were you doing out there?"

Amara just looked down at her mug, still trying to figure out what to say.

"Okay,' Veronique responded, deciding to try it from a different angle, "Can you tell us who that man was? Did he bring you here?"  
"He was going to kill me." Amara answered finally.

Both women's eyes widened and hearts sank. They knew whatever happened wasn't good, but—what had they found?

"Amara," Veronique began, "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but…did he touch you?"

"Touch me?" Amara repeated, utterly baffled.

"Inappropriately." Veronique elaborated.

"Vee- "Jacks began, not sure they should be doing this.

"Well, we have to ask." Veronique reasoned.

"I really think we should leave that for the police." Jacks replied.

"Well, what do we tell them?" Veronique questioned, "That we found a naked girl on our land and we don't know where she came from or how she got there?"

"Yes, that's _exactly_ what we tell them!" Jack replied.

"He didn't touch me." Amara spoke up, "Not like that. He just—helped my brother locked me up."

"Your brother?" Jacks repeated.

Amara nodded. "He doesn't love me anymore so locked me away. But now I'm out."

"What about your parents?" Jacks asked, horrified, "Why didn't they stop him?"

"We don't have parents." Amara answered, finally taking a sip of the drink. It was hot and rich and sweet. She actually kind of liked it.

"That's it." Jacks declared getting up, "I'm calling the cops."

"Jacks, wait," Veronique said, following after her and speaking in a whisper, "What if we don't. What if we don't call the cops and we just…keep her?"

"Keep her?" Jacks repeated, staring at her partner like she had to be joking.

"We've always talked about having kids." Veronique reasoned, "And if we call the police, they're just send her back to that son of bitch brother of hers."

"He was holding her prisoner and she was running around in the middle of the woods naked to get away from him." Jacks recapped, "No sane person would return her to that, in fact, this bastard's probably looking at charges of some sort."

"They give children back to people who have no business having them all the time." Veronique countered, "And even if they don't she's in the hard to place category, which means an endless stream of foster homes until she's thrown out on the streets at eighteen."

"Boy, know how to paint a rosy picture." Jacks mumbled.

"I'm just being a realist." Veronique insisted, "And besides," she lowered her voice even more, "The police might start snooping around, and then they might find, ah—" He gestured to the side of the house.

"You want to hold a little girl prisoner so the cops don't find our grow op?" Jacks deadpanned.

"Not hold prisoner." Veronique corrected, "Raise as our own. At the very least it wouldn't hurt to ask her."

Jacks glanced over to girl in the kitchen who was drinking her hot chocolate. She had had to admit, she was tempted. He turned back to Veronique. "Alright, we ask her, but she says no, we call the proper authorities."

"Fine." Veronique said, and with that they walked back into the kitchen.

The woman walked to the table and began to sit down. "Amara, sweetie," Veronique, began, "We'd like with you about something."

"What about?" Amara asked.

"We know you don't have any good place to stay," Veronique began awkwardly, "So we were wondering…" Her voice trailed off. They really should have planned this out before they went in there.

"Would you like to live here with us." Jacks finished for her, "And we could take care of you. And not lock you up."

Veronique shot Jacks a look. Was adding _that_ in really necessary?

"What, it's a selling point." Jacks justified.

Meanwhile Amara was mulling over what the women were offering her. At the very least, this would be a good place to hid until she had a plan, until she was at her full strength, with a food source nearby. "Yes." Amara answered finally.

"Now, are you sure about this?" Jacks asked.

"Yes." Amara confirmed, "I like you. And I don't want to go home."

"Well, then, it's settled." Veronique took over again, "Are you sure you're not hurt? You don't need to go to the hospital?"

"No." Amara answered, "He didn't hurt me."

The mention of Cain reminded the women of another problem they had. "Speaking of, "Veronique began, "I'm gonna show you around a minute and then me and Jacks needs to do something, okay?"

Ten minute later, while Amara rested in the guess room, Jacks and Veronique drove their trucks out to the large green house on their property, with Cain's body wrapped in a cloth tarp in the back.

The woman opened up the greenhouse, Veronique holding a shoulder. "I think there's an empty plot just over there…" She began, walking in the direction of said plot.

"Veronique, would you stop a minute, please?" Jacks demanded, "What are we doing here?"

"We're burying a body, what does it look like?" Veronique responded, starting to dig in the soil.

"That's just it!" Jacks exclaimed, "We are not the kind of people that bury dead bodies."

"And exactly what kind of people bury dead bodies?" Veronique asked.

"Mob people," Jacks answered, "Murderers, bad people, Vee!"

"This doesn't mean we're bad people." Veronique assured her, continuing to dig, "We're just—doing the sensible thing."

"The sensible thing would calling the cops." Jacks argued.

"Jacqueline." Veronique began slowly, patiently, "We've already discussed this. You've already agreed."

"In a moment of weakness." Jacks countered walking up to him, "Now that I've had time to think I can see just how utterly—insane this all his. Even if we lose Amara, we need to call the cops."

"It's a little ate to do that now." Veronique argued.

"No, it's not." Jacks insisted, "We haven't done anything yet."

"Jacks look around you." Veronique requisitioned, "We've wrapped him up in a trap, hauled in the tuck to our Marijuana green house and are currently digging a hole. There's like, as least three crimes there."

While that part of the statement was more retrial Jacks did look around and realized that unless they wanted to turn themselves in, they were fairly trapped in this course of action. "Alright." She sighted, picking up a shovel and going to help Veronique.


	109. Jenna's Game

"If you see her, don't confront her." Sam was telling the assembly of angels, "Just call it in. I don't want anyone taking any nessacry risk on this one."  
Sam had decided that with no clue where to find Amara, the best thing do was bring in his angel army, and had been explaining the situation.

"Any questions?" Sam finished.

A hand in the middle of the crowd shot up.

"Yes, you in the—middle." Sam said. It was a little hard to tell who everyone was in the crowd.

"Why did you let her out in the first place?" The angel asked.

"We didn't know we were letting her out." Sam answered, "Until a day ago, no human hand heard of the Darkness, and even you guys thought she was a legend. And no one had clue she was God's sister."

There were nods of agreement from several in the crowd.

"But you had known there would be consequences for removing the Mark of Cain from your brother's arm." The angel pointed out, looking to start something.

"It's not that simple and you know it!" Hagar spoke up in Sam's defense.

Suddenly several of the angels started yelling at once.

"Okay, guys…" Sam began, unsure of how to stop this.

What silenced it was blood-curdling screams coming from inside the bunker.

"Stay here." Sam ordered, "I'll be right back." Then he took off.

When he landed in the bunker, the first thing he saw was Dean running to towards the dungeon.

"What's happening?" Sam asked, running with him.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Dean answered urgently, still running down the hall.

They thrusted opened the door of the dungeon, and found Jenna straggling Metatron, slicing into his face with a make-shift knife. Blood a pouring out of her wrists. She had managed to cut it and use her own blood as lube.

"Oh, hey guys." Jenna chirped, "Thanks for putting me down here. This guy's tons of fun."

"Get this lunatic away from me and I'll tell you everything!" Metatron screamed, "I don't even know about what, but I will!"

"Jenna." Sam began slowly, "Why don't you just-come with us."

"So, I can spend the rest of my life, chained to the ceiling?" Jenna sneered, walking over to them with a knife, "I don't think so."

"This doesn't have to be forever." Sam tried to assure her, "We can figure out a way to work with this."

Jenna responded by charging at them with the knife, screaming her head off.

What happened next was pure chaos. Both Sam and Dean tried to grab but she just kept getting away, stabbing them both several times. Fortunately, she only got non-lethal injures to Dean, and knives didn't really work on Sam.

"Why? Aren't? You? Dying?" Jenna screamed at Sam, between stabs on Sam.

"I'm getting a strange sense of De Ja Vu all of the sudden. "Metatron commented.

"Not really the time!" Dean shouted, trying to push the knife away from him.

Somehow, in the struggle, the knife went into Jenna.  
Sam ran to her, starting to heal her, but she pushed him away. "No." Jenna rasped, "Let…me… die…."

Still Sam tried to heal her, but she continued to fight back until she breathed her last.

"I brought, Charlie back." Sam began, franticly, "I can be bringing her back. I just have to…"

"Sam, wait." Dean requested, reaching out to stop him, "I think you should let her go."

"I can't just…" Sam protested.

"Sam, she _wanted_ die." Dean reminded him.

"She wasn't in her right mind!" Sam argued.

"Sam, not that you want my opinion, but with everything else that's going on right now, do you _really_ want to have to contain the murderous lunatic?" Metatron spoke up.

"You're right, I _don't_ want your opinion!" Sam snapped, "We don't just kill people because they're inconvenient!"

"Oaky, how about a compromise?" Dean suggested, "We put her on ice. If we can find some way to get her soul back from Amara, we can revisit the issue."

"Okay," Sam agreed, "That works, okay."

And so, Sam made special place in Heaven to put her body, where it would be persevered. Dean laid it in the refrigerator reverently. "I'm sorry." He whispered, "You deserved better."

When he joined Sam outside, Sam shut the door. "Come on," Dean said, "We got work to do."


	110. Half A Life

**AN: As Amara discovers the power of fiction, Jacks drops some major** _ **X-Files season**_ **seven spoilers, so, if haven't seen it yet but are planning on it, you might want to skin that part.**

Amara's head turned around as she heard someone come into the house. "Jacks?" She called out, "Veronique? Is that you?"

"Yeah, baby, it's us." Veronique called out, "We're in for the night." Then she whispered over to her partner, "I'm gonna go check on her, okay?"

"Maybe you should clean up first." Jacks suggested, gesturing to her dirt covered clothes.

Amara was staring at her face in the mirror. It was nicely shaped, framed by long brown hair. Suddenly, a knocking against the door got her attention.

"Hey," Veronique greeted her, standing in the door, "Just checking in to see how you were."

"I'm fine." Amara answered, "I'll sleep soon."

"Good, you probably need it, after the day you've had." Veronique replied, "Mind if I come in?"

"Of course." Amara answered.

Veronique came in and sat down on the bed. "You're going to need some new clothes." She said, "And we're going to need to do something with your education. So, we were thinking we would let you get settled in for a few days, then we'll take you into town to get some clothes, get your registered at school."

"Registered?" Amara repeated, "School?"

"Yeah, you apparently don't have to be the child's guardian, you just have to be acting in the role of parent." Veronique explained, thinking that was in the reason for the confusion, "Which is actually somewhat disturbing."

"I like the sound of that. "Amara said, turning around and going to join her on the bed.

"I'm glad." Veronique told her, gently taking a strain of hair that had fallen into Amara's face and tucking it behind her, "It's going to be okay, Amara. You can trust us."

"I know." Amara said.

"Is it— "Veronique began, "Is it okay if I hug you?"

"Of course." Amara answered, not entirely sure what a hug was, but not wanting to rock the boat.

To Amara's surprise, Veronique leaned in and wrapped her arms around her. She went stiff, unsure of what to do.

"It's okay." Veronique assured her, "You can hug back."

Amara wrapped her arms around the woman's torso, hopping it was a proper imitation of a hug.

Then Veronique kissed her forehead before breaking the embrace. "Good night, little girl." She said, getting up. "Love you."

Amare got a sudden pang inside her. "You too." She quickly covered.

The next days moved slowly, getting Amara settled into the house, showing her around the property.

"What's that?" Amara asked, pointing to the large glass house.

"That's -ah-a green house." Veronique answered nervously.

"What's it for?" Amara asked.

"We use it to…grow things." Veronique explained awkwardly.

"Like the garden near the house?" Amara asked.

Not as far out from the property, they couple had a small garden of fruit bushes and vegetable and a tree called the royal empress three that budded in beautiful purple flowers.

"Well, this is a different from that." Veronique admitted, "We sell the stuff in there to lady who comes up every few months."

"Oh." Amara responded, "Can I see?"

"Maybe latter, sweetie." Veronique promised, leading Amara down the hill.

After few days they took her into town to purchase clothes. She wasn't sure what her tastes were in the way of clothing, so they wound up grabbing several items and heading to the dressing room.

"How does this one look?" Amara asked, coming out in a dove gray dress. Those seemed to be the articles of clothing she gravitated to, dresses, plain and very simply cut, maybe even elegantly so, in subtle, natural shades.

"It's very pretty honey, but—don't you think you should get something _besides_ dresses?" Jacks suggested.

"Babe, if that's what she likes then that's what she likes." Veronique reasoned.

"But she needs something warmer." Jacks replied, "Especially right now, where it's still cold out."

"Then can stock up on thick stockings and sweaters and cardigans." Veronique offered a solution.

"Works for me." Amara spoke up, before running back in to try on the next thing. There was something oddly pleasurable about all this.

After that, things fell to into a steady rhythm. The couple would work while Amare would study, pretending to join the local school when everyone came back for the spring semester. Amara had a, lotto catch up on, as she didn't know anything about history, and little about math science. She could read, but she wasn't sure how, and she could write, but it was chickenscrach. The couple assumed the lapses in her knowledge were a result of her captivity. After dinner, somethings Jacks would play her guitar, or they would all play some kind of game, or watch their old junk TV. They didn't get the best reception, but they had the best of 90s television on DVD in the basement.

"Hey, Amara, how do you feel about _the X-Files?_ " Jacks called up one day, holding a box set in her hands.

"What is the X-Files?" Amara asked innocently.

Jacks balked. "Y-You're seriously telling me you've never heard of this show? It's iconic!"

"Babe, she just a baby when it started going downhill." Veronique pointed out, "Besides—" She started gesturing, not wanting to state it in front of Amara.

"Well," Jacks said, grabbing the first season, "Whatever the reason, we are fixing this right now."

Amara soon found herself enthralled with Mulder and Scully's misadventures. She knew they weren't real but something just…drew to her to it all. Whenever she got to pick, that was what she picked. She wanted to know what happened next.

Then, after 'End Game', as Veronique was taking out the tape, Amara asked, "Is he ever going to fine her?"

Veronique turned around. "Does who find who baby?"

"Does Mulder ever find Samantha?" Amara elaborated, sounding almost scared of the answer.

Veronique looked at Jacks in a way that said, _this was your show, you tell her._

Amara had been living with them long enough to realize that probably wasn't good. "It's bad isn't it?"

"Depends on how you look at it." Jacks responded, sitting down next to her, "Amara, honey, Mulder fines her, but by then—she's gone."

Amara's heart sank. "You mean—they killed her?" Though she knew they weren't real, she suddenly wanted to rip every stinking gray apart. To feed on their essence and obliterate them into dust.

"Not exactly?" Jacks replied, pausing a moment to figure out how to explain it, "You see, there were these—beings of starlight, and they took her and turned her into one of them before they could kill her."

That didn't make any sense, and Amara just looked at her in confusion.

"I know, it's a totally cop out of the writer's part." Jacks admitted, "But—she's somewhere better."

Amara tried to be contented with that. To comfort herself with fact that it wasn't real. But still, that night as she pretended to sleep, she found herself grieving Samantha Mulder.

It was shortly after that they got enough internet signal to start introducing Amara to their family.

Roberta had her sister's red hair, but had strange eyes, one was green and the other was brown. She also had a thing for calico dresses and her sister usually preferred blue jeans.

"Roberta, this is Amara." Jacks introduced her, "Amara, this is your Aunt Roberta."

"Hi." Amara waved at the screen.

"Hi." Roberta repeated, waving back, "Jacks, Vee, why didn't you tell you were adopting?"

Jacks and Veronique exchanged looks. "We ah, didn't want to jinx it." Veronique answered finally.

"That's a little paranoid don't you think?" Roberta responded, "Guys, she's beautiful. I'm so happy for you. Have you told Mom and Dad yet?"

"They're coming down this weekend." Jacks answered.

"Wh-why am I the last one to know about these things?" Roberta responded.

"We just set it up." Veronique spoke up, "It all just sorta—happened."

"If you want you can come down." Jacks offered.

"I'll talk to Mike." Roberta replied, "He's gonna want to meet this one too, and of course there are a couple of cusions I have to introduce her to."

And so, that weekend, a group consisting of a well-kept elderly couple, Roberta, a tall blonde man, and twin, a boy and a girl with Roberta and Jacks red hair.

"I'm so glad you all could make it." Jacks beamed hugging them all.

"So are we." The elderly woman said, before her attention fell on a twelve-year-old girl in a dusky rose dress, "And this must be Amara." As she went in for a hug she added, "It is so good to meet you."

"You too, Mrs. O'Connell." Amara replied, accepting a hug.

Mrs. O'Connell pulled back, "Oh, please, we're family now, call me Grandma."

They day went well. Everybody fell in love with Amara almost instantly and she adored her younger cusions, playing with them all afternoon.

"Thank you all for coming out, guys." Jacks told everyone as they watched the children play.

"It's not every day we get a new grandchild." Mrs. O'Connell replied.

"The kids seem to be getting alone." Veronique commented. She was glad for that. It was good Patrice for when Amara started school.

A week in a half later, the evening before that day came, and Veronique was helping Amara get her outfit ready for the next day.

"Why can't you keep home schooling me?" Amara asked, laying a pink cardigan out on the dresser.

"Because," Veronique answered, "We don't have all the tools here, or the knowledge, we still have a farm to run, and you—need some friends."

"I have Ricky and Anna." Amara protested.

Veronique crouched down so she was as tall as Amara was. "Look," She began, "I know this is scary, but it's going to be fine. I promise." She took her hand and said, "I have an idea. Come with me."

They walked the couple's bedroom, with its beautiful iron-farmed bed covered with a wild-flowered patterned comforter that matched Amara's. Jacks peeped her head out of the bathroom. "What's going on?"

Jacks leaned down and pulled a box out from under the bed and set in on top, saying, "Amara, is going to pick out something pretty to wear tomorrow.

Amara's breath was taken away for a moment. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Veronique answered, opening the box to reveal the exsquite pieces inside.

After fifteen minutes with a little help from her mother's she settled on an amethyst and jade pin, which she wore on her carridan the next day, when her mothers walked her in.

"You still nervous?" Jacks asked, standing on her left side.

"A little." Amara admitted.

"Don't be." Jacks replied.

"Jacks is right." Veronique added, "You're gonna do great. Everything's gonna be find." She leaned down and gave her daughter a hug. "And whatever, happens, we love you."

"That goes double for me." Jacks agreed, going in for a hug as well

The day went well for the most part. Amara kept her head down, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself, until the child next to her, a girl in pastel green overalls with long blonde braids spoke. "I like your pin."

"Thank you." Amara replied, subconiosuly putting her hand to the pin. "My mom let me wear it today. Well, one of them at least."

"You said your name was Amara, right?" The girl asked.

Amara nodded, unsure of what to do.

"I'm Rhoda." The girl greeted her, stretching out her hand, "It's nice to meet you."

Knowing that she was supposed to, Amara took the hand and shaking saying, "You, too."

And over the next few days she became very glad she meant Rhoda, a tomboyish introverted imp who liked kick ball and dodge ball and _the X-Files_ like Jacks and Amara, who had an older sister name Rachel who would let them hang out with her some of the time.

For two more weeks peace reigned and Amara came to truly love her family and her friends. For a while she actually forgot she wasn't one of them.

And then the first pangs started.

She was lying in bed trying to sleep. She realized immediately what it was. She had planned this moment, but now that plan didn't work. She loved her mother's too much. But she had to eat. She had to come up with another plan. She climbed down her window, and made it to the ground, running to the woods.

Animals didn't have souls per se, but they were a certain…essence to them, something that Amara could feed on. And when she found a deer that's exactly what she did.

But that didn't work for long. In the span of a few days she consumed the essence of two more deer and five rabbits. She needed something more.

Then she got an idea.

"Is everything alright?" Rhoda asked, sitting on the swings with Amara, "You've been acting weird. Even for you."

Amara decided to just come out with it. "There's something that I need your help with, you and Rachels, but—I'm afraid what you'll think of me afterwards."

"Amara," Rhoda began, "There's nothing you could tell me that would make me feel bad about you."

While the words assured Amara somewhat, she had Rhoda stay back and she and Rachel and snuck out of the house and she helped Amara set up the circle.

"This is really creepy, kid." Rachel told her, finishing with the circle, "What is this supposed to do anyhow?"

"You'll probably see." Amara answered, even though she didn't want them to see, and began to chant, " _Demon esto sibjectus voluntati."_

"Who summons me and for what purpose?" A woman's voice demanded behind her.

Amara turned around and found herself face with a slight, but imposing dark-haired woman with glowing red eyes.

"What the Hell?!" Rachel exclaimed, first jumping back on instinct than going back for Amara.

"Rachel, don't!" Amara exclaimed, pushing her back thought she was nowhere near her.

"What the— "Rachel responded as she hit the grown.

Tears filled Amara's eyes. "I'm sorry." She said before turning around and feeding on the crossroad's demon.


	111. Meanwhile

During this time period, Sam and the angels had no leads of Amara. They were looking around the clock, but there was no sign of her, but also, no damage seemed to be being done, oddly enough.

Eventually, other, smaller matters popped up.

It all started with a call from Jody.

"Hey, Jody." Sam greeted her.

"Hey, Sam." Jody replied, "Listen, I know this may or may not be a bad time, but I'm at this Sheriff's retreat in Hibbing, and, ah, we got a bit of a situation here and I think it may have gotten out of hand."

Jody explained the situation, then Sam explained it to Dean before grabbing him and taking off. When they landed, a woman with Jody, a familiar-looking blonde, jumped back exclaiming, "What the cuss?"

"I take it you didn't have time to tell her." Sam guessed.

"Eh, no." Jody confirmed.

"Wait, a second." Dean spoke up, pointing at the blonde, "Don't we know her?"

"Agent Frehly?" Donna asked, still in shock, "Agent Criss?"

"Ah, that's Donna Hanscum, you know, from the Pischtaco case." Sam reminded him.

"Fat-spa Donna!" Dean exclaimed, "Right."

'" Huh?" Donna responded, still having trouble processing.

They realized they need to explain some things. "You want to give her the talk?" Dean asked Jody.

They all wound up giving her the talk in the parking lot of the hotel. She still needed a little time to process.

"Heck." Donna said finally, "Just…heck."

"We good?" Dean asked.

Donna had another concern. "Wait. So, when we were at the weight loss spa—"

"Monsters." Dean confirmed, "Sucking on your fat. We took care of them."

"Ah, jeez." Hannah responded, "I knew losing 10 pounds that fast was too good to be true." Then, getting her bearings back for the most part, she handed a note to Sam. "Here. Maybe this is where Sheriff…vampire went."

"It could be anything." Dean said as Sam put the address into _MapQuest,_ "What do you got?"

"Looks like an old farmhouse outside of town." Sam replied.

"Could be something." Dean admitted. Places like that where vampires' MO.

"And it's the only lead we got." Donna spoke up.

'"'We'?" Sam repeated, "All due respect Sheriff, but vampires are far more dangerous than the johns you throw in jail."

"You're gonna sit this one out." Dean told her.

"Stuff you, Dean!" Donna declared, "Or whatever your name is."

"Hanscum's good." Jody declared.

"Jody—" Sam protested.

"I said she' good." Jody insisted, cutting him off.

"Okay." Dean relented, "All right. But you're staying back. Okay?"

With that in agreement, Sam teleported them all to the farmhouse. Dean distributed the weapons they had brought them, and they headed towards the building. "If you're gonna swing, swing hard." He instructed the newbie, "With vamps, head's gotta roll."

"Got it." Donna assured him.

Sam peeked through the window and saw one Len Cruse, Hibbing's Sheriff and apparent vampire. He looked away then looked back only to find Curse gone. Then Cursed popped up in the window, shouting "Run!"

That was when everyone got jumped. Sam began struggling with a girl who appeared to be in her teens, though he guessed she was a lot older, until he reached out and put a hand to the forehead, smiting her.

The shock of what they had just witnessed caused the other vampires to pause long enough for their would-be victims to get the jump on _them_ Donna beheading her attacker swiftly, followed by Jody and Dean doing the same with theirs. Then they turned their attention to Len.

Sensing something amiss, Sam stepped in between Len and the understandably angry mob. "Wait a minute, guys." He said, "He just tried to warn us. Maybe we should—hear his side of the story."

"What side?" Donna protested, "I saw his vampire face standing over Sheriff Goodhill."

"No, no, I-I found her." Len explained, "I-I s-smelled her blood. But I didn't bite."

"Well, aren't you a hero." Dean snarked.

"But you _didn't_ kill her?" Jody spoke up.

"No." Len asked, "They did. They're-they were my old nest. I had this—this philosophy of using everything possible from the humans we kill, but prey that beg for their lives—even then, I mean, it's still wrong. I got a conscience."

"So, you walked away." Sam guessed.

"I tried to protect people." Len elaborated, "After so many years of…. gutting them. That's why I'm here. But then I got my stupid picture in the paper and they saw it…" Len hung his head, overwhelmed, aggrieved and ashamed.

Sam put reassuring hand on Len's shoulder.

"So, I'm just going to put this out there that we _don't_ kill him." Jody suggested.

In the end that was the route decided on. Len Curse went back to policing Hibbing and Jody and Donna decided to keep in touch so the former could give the other tips on hunting.

Upon returning home, the boys decided it was time to check on Margery, who they had not had a chance to check in since the incident with the Stynes.

"It is so good to see you." Margery said, hugging them both, "Let me go get Luda, she's going to be thrilled."

"Actually, Margery," Sam reposed "We wanted to talk to you alone for a minute."

And so, they sat down, taking seats across from Margery, and the discussion began.

"So, Margery, how have you been doing since…. well, you know?" Sam began.

"Being kidnapped by magical rednecks and nearly killed?" Margery quipped, "Better than I admittedly should be. Guess I'm used to being kidnapped and imprisoned at this point. Which I know, is sick."

"And Luda?" Dean spoke up.

"She doesn't know." Margery answered, "Told her I had car trouble. And no one is telling her otherwise, okay?"

"Okay." Sam agreed, "And Margery, if you need anything—"

"I know, I know, I can come to you." Margery cut him off, then smiled, "Thanks, guys. "

Shortly after that, another promise arose: More angelic infighting.

"He thinks just because God made him an archangel that just gives him a right to take over." The angel who had made the scene at the announcement was telling a small group, "Yet he has one foot in our world and one foot in humanity's and look what he's done."

"That's not fair." Hannah protested, pushing her way to the front of the crowd, "He didn't _want_ to be out leader, it just got trust upon him."

"Well, then maybe someone should take the burden of leading off of him." The other angel reasoned.

Hannah could see where this was going. "And you would take his place?"

"Perhaps." The angel responded.

Hannah resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "And then what?" She challenged, "Do you have any plan to fight the Darkness?"

The angel didn't answer.

"That's what I thought." Hannah responded. However, this was when someone came at her from behind, pushing her to the ground and several angels began kicking her.

Coming across the scene, unfolding and her friend being attacked, Hagar jumped into the fray, pulling two of the attackers off Hannah, only to be attacked herself.

That was when Castiel jumped in, shouting, "Hey! Knock it off!" However, that was when Hael, who had also joined, accidently hit him with a two by four while aiming at someone else.

That was when it turned into a small-scale riot.

When the fight was finally broken up, and they had explained what had happened to Sam, the arch angel was face with seven angels doing a staring contest with the floor.

"Okay, you five can leave." Sam told five of the angels, pointing to them each in turn, leaving Hannah and the angel that had started all the trouble.

"Look, Hannah, I know you were just trying to help, but next time—just come to me, okay?" Sam told her.

Hannah nodded.

"Good." Sam responded, "You're free to go."

Hannah hurried away, leaving Sam alone with the angel who started all the trouble. By the look on his face, he was pretty sure his goose was cooked.

"It's Julian, right?" Sam began.

The angel, Julian, nodded.

"Well, Julian, if you have a problem with my leadership, you and me can have it out, right here right now." Sam offered gravely.

"That—won't be necessary sir." Julian replied nervously, "Your leadership is –fine."

"Okay then." Sam said, "Go."

"And that was it?" Margery asked Dean later as the pair was sitting down to coffee, "He just—let him off?"

"Yep." Dean replied, "Personally, I would have made an example of him, -admittedly I'm not sure how—but hey, Sam's the archangel, not me."

Margery chuckled at the odd statement.

"Yes, I know how messed up our lives are that I say that so casually." Dean told her.

"Then wait till you get a load of this next thing." Margery replied, "Any word on God's sister?"

"No," Dean groaned in frustration, "I mean, it's been over a month, we figured she'd make a big dust up by now, you know, things exploding, rivers of blood, everyone's eyes growing on stalks."

"Well, maybe no news is good news." Margery reasoned.

"Oh, you poor sweet thing." Dean bemoaned, "Now news is never good news. No news means someone is plotting. Dean looked down. He still couldn't believe they had done this.

Margery came over to him, crouching down in front of him, taking his hands. "This isn't your fault. You couldn't know what would happen."

"And that somehow makes it okay?" Dean challenged, "Look, I know you're new here, but this is the kind of thing that happens all the time. Every time we try to do something we either slip down on the humanity scale, die or manage to break something." He said nothing after that, letting the statement sink in for both of them.

He wasn't sure what reaction he had been expecting, but it wasn't what happened next. She gripped his wrists tighter and saw firmly, "Dean Winchester you listen here and you listen good. Apart from Luda's father you and your brother are the best men I have ever met and I will take you over the most perfect hero every day, doomsdays and all."

The hunter and Kitsune stared at each other, something intense in the air around them, until a voice said, "Um, am I interrupting something?"

They turned to seem Sam standing behind them, staring at them awkward.

Both immediately jumped up. "No." Dean answered.

"No." Margery agreed.

"Nothing at all." Dean continued, "So, what's up?"

"We got a lead on Amara." Sam answered.


	112. Requiem For A Dream

"And according to Crowley this girl was possessed?" Castiel asked as he, Sam and Dean stood over the girl's body in the morgue.

"Yeah, the girl's name was Leah Carmichael, but the demon's name was Del." Sam answered, "From the corner's report, Leah's been –gone for a while."

"Well, looks like Amara finally got hungry again." Dean commented, not sure what to make of this.

Meanwhile, Veronique was shutting down to a cup of coffee when Jacks appeared in the doorway. "Hey," Jacks began, "Is, ah, Amara around?"

"She's in her room." Veronique answered, "Why?"

Jacks sat down at the table. "I'm worried about her." She explained, "Ever that sleepover she's been acting odd, even by her standards. Acting all—nervous, evasive, and I haven't seen either of the girls in days."

Veronique was quiet for a moment. "Come to think of it, when I picked her up from school, Rachel was getting Rhoda and she, Rachel, I mean, gave Amara this—look, like she was scared of her."

"Why would she be scared of her?" Jacks asked, "She's a good head taller than our girl who by the way, is a hundred pounds soaking wet."

"I don't know." Veronique admitted, before standing up, "Put I think it's time we found out."

Upstairs, Amara was reading _The Royal Dairies_ while listening to music on a pair of headphones, she had borrowed from Jacks. _You don't have to call, anymore, I won't pick up the phone, this is the last straw, don't wanna hurt anymore…._

Sensing a present in the room she looked up and saw Veronique and Jacks standing over her. She took her headphones out to see what they wanted.

"Amara, can we talk to you for a minute, sweetie?" Veronique asked.

"Sure," Amara answered, sitting up, "What's up?"

They sat down on either side of the girl. "We've just noticed that something's been going on with you." Jacks began, "And now Veronique tells me something's going on between you and Rachel?"

Amara started to panic. _Do they know? How did they find out?_

Apparently, they saw she was panicking, because Veronique assured her, "Now, no one's mad at you, sweetie, we just want to know what's going on, so we can help."

Tears welled up in Amara's eyes. How could she tell them? How could she make them understand?

"Amara's it's okay." Veronique assured her, brushing her hair back, "Whatever's going on, you can tell us."

"No, I can't!" Amara sobbed, "If I tell you, you won't love me anymore!"

"Babe, let me take this one." Jacks told Veronique than stared Amara in the face, grabbing her hands, "Amara, listen to me. Theirs is _nothing_ you could do that would make us stop loving you, okay?"

"No." Amara responded, "No, there is. I'm not who you think I am. I'm not _what_ you think I am."

By then she was in such a state that Jacks just hugged her, stroking her hair.

Meanwhile, the trio had just left the Sheriff's office, a sixteen-year-old with dark blonde hair dressed in a long plaid coat, was standing outside. "Excuse me?" She said.

They all turned to look at her.

"Someone told me you were here about the dead body." The girl continued, nervously.

"We are." Dean answered, "Do you know something about it?"

"I do." The door answered, "But it's gonna sound really weird."


	113. I Will Sing Now Requiem

Sam lead point as they crept around the side of the porch.

"This is really where the Darkness has been hiding out for two months?" Dean whispered.

That was when they heard the _click_ of the gun. "That's close enough. Now turn around."

They turned around to find a rather irate looking woman with her dark hair tied up on her head, pointing a riffle out them.

"Wait," Sam requested, "This isn't what it looks like. We just need to talk. Are you Veronique or Jacqluine?"

"Veronique." The woman answered with an edge in her voice, "What's that to do you?"

"We need to talk about your daughter, Amara." Dean spoke up, "She's not what you think she is. I know this is gonna sound crazy, but—"

"I know." Veronique cut him off, "She just told us and we don't care. She's still our little girl."

"Veronique," Castiel spoke up slowly, "I know it may seem like she is but that thing in there is not a child."

"Do you _want_ be to pump you full of lead?" Veronique threatened.

"Uh, no." Cas answered.

"Veronique don't." A child's voice requested.

They all turned to see, standing on the porch a pre-teen girl with long smooth brown hair, dressed in a deep blue dress with a white sweater. Behind her, her hands on her shoulders, was a woman Veronique's age with pale skin and long red hair.

"There are the men I told you about." The child, Amara they realized, explained, "And we all need to talk."


	114. Humanity Is Infectious

The men had to admit, they hadn't known what to expect when they came to fight Amara, but they centertainly hadn't expected this.

The three of them were on one side of the table, while Amara and Veronique were on the other, the other still holding her rifle.

"Vee, put the gun down." Jacks told her, coming over to the table, "It's not like it's gonna do any good anyway."

"It'll work on that one." Veronique pointed out, pointing at Dean.

"Veronique, please," Amara spoke up, "Please don't hurt him."

"Amara, they were gonna hurt you." Veronique reasoned, "Or do something else bad to you."

"Mrs. Dubois, we don't even know if we can do anything to her." Sam spoke up, "Look, can we just please start over. I'm Sam Winchester, and this my brother Dean and our friend Castiel. Cas and I our angel, and your daughter's—"

"The sister of God, which apparently a thing, who up until about a month ago was imprisoned on that one's arm." Veronique cut him off, pointing to Dean as she finished, "Before that she was imprisoned by Cain—"

"Who is currently buried in out greenhouse." Jacks added.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up there a minute." Dean spoke up, "Cain is _where?"_

"He came for me." Amara explained, "I consumed him. That was when Veronique found me and thought something else was going on." She was silent a moment, then said, "I never lied to them. I told them he had helped keep my locked up, that I didn't have parents I just-I just-" Tears were welling up in her eyes now.

 _The Darkness is crying._ Sam thought, having trouble computing what he was seeing, _she's actually crying._

 _This is a trick._ Dean thought at about the same time, _this has to be some kind of trick._ But something inside him told him it wasn't.

Veronique took Amara into her arms, stroking her hair and whispering, "It's alright, it's alright, we all understand why you did it, no one's mad at you."

"Why did you burry him in your greenhouse?" Cas spoke up, getting them back on topic, "Shouldn't the authorities be contacted in these sorts of situations?"

"They would have taken her away." Veronique reasoned, "And Jacks and me—we've wanted a child for—for so long and we—we fell in love with her." After a beat, her voice took on an almost dangerous tone as she said, "And that hasn't changed. I don't care if she some's omnipdent destructive force or a dark angel or a demon or whatever. She's ours, and we'll protect her."

"Look, the easiest thing she could have done when she got hungry again was to eat our souls." Jacks added in, "But she didn't. And she didn't eat anyone else's either. She jumped through hoops to avoid that. Doesn't that say something about her character?"

"You make a good point." Sam conceded.

By that time Amara had got her bearings enough to speak. "I fell in love with them, just like they did with me. My mothers, my family, may friends…. they help me see what my brother saw in humanity. And how could I ever destroy that?"

Sam sat there thoughtfully for a moment. "I believe you, Amara." He began finally, "And we won't try to take you from here. But we need to figure out something for the next time you get hungry."

"Can't we just feed her another demon?" Dean asked, "I mean, it certainly would help _us_ out."

And so, they produced a list of all the demons left on earth, subtracting those that had been dealt with since the gates closed.

"This won't be enough." Amara declared, "It will keep me fed for a while, but…I won't be done by the time we run out."

"How long will it take for you to be…done?" Sam asked.

"I don't know." Amara admitted, "Between how long Cain kept me and then starving myself, I'm not growing as fast as I should."

"What about animals?" Veronique suggested, "You said that you snuck out at night and you could feed off their energy?"

"If I can get one every few days." Amara curtailed.

Jacks rubbed her hands through her hair. It was possible, but tough.

"Perhaps, I can help." A new voice behind them all said.

They all turned and found a strange man in the doorway. A strange man the Winchesters recognized as Chuck Shurly.


	115. Custody Arrangement With God

**AN: Sorry I disappeared last week, guys. Something unexpected happened last week that kept me from updating. Thank God—the actual God, that is—that he got me through and let me post this week.**

"Chuck?" Sam exclaimed in surprise, standing up, "W-what are you doing here? Where have you been for—five years?"

"Yeah, aren't you dead?" Dean added, "Cas said you were dead."

"There's a new prophet." Castiel responded, "He _should_ be dead."

"Wait a second, you know this guy?" Jacks asked, pointing back at Chuck.

"Chuck Shurly." Sam introduced him, "He was the Prophet of God before the current one, Kevin."

"Yeah, he didn't realize what his visions were at first and wrote a whole book series about us." Dean added, "I'm still kinda pissed about that."

"However, there can only be one Prophet at a time." Cas explained, "So when Kevin was activated, I just assumed Chuck had somehow died."

"I can help explain a few things." Chuck said, pulling out a handful of sunglasses, "People can't see me unless I _want_ them to see me." He handed the glasses to Sam, Cas and Amara. "Put these on they'll help. You three just might wat to—look away."

Dean and the women did while the angels and Amara but the glasses on. They looked at chuck who started to glow golden. It was nothing like they had ever seen before.

"Oh. My. God." Sam gasped in awe.

"Basically." Chuck replied, giving them a soft smiled.

"What does that mean?" Dean asked.

"It means that Chuck is God and perhaps has been the whole time." Cas answered, "If I understand what I'm seeing right, your Holiness."

"Chuck will be just fine, thank you." Chuck assured him.

The women were just staring, Veronique's face froze in an utterly shocked expression, Jacks slacked jawed. Amara however, was shaking.

Chuck turned and approached. "It's okay." He assured herm, putting a hand on her shoulder.

That snapped Veronique out of her stupor, and she tried to pull Amara away.

"Don't worry." Chuck assured them both, "I have no intention of hurting of her." He put a hand on Amara's forehead.

Suddenly Amara could feel power surging, then felt that power settling. It didn't hurt but it was strange. What was happening to her?

"This should help your hunger." Chuck explained, "And you do need—to eat I can give you what you need. You'll grow a little slower, it'll take you at least a few years to reach adulthood, but it'll work. Sorry about the puberty, though."

"Why are you—" Amara begin, "Why are you helping me? I thought you didn't love me anymore."

Chuck looked at her sadly. He reached out and cressessed her face, saying, "Amara, I never stopped loving you. But I also loved my creation and I couldn't let you destroy it. It killed me to lock you away, but now that these wonderful women have been such a brilliant influence on you—" His voice trailed off a moment, "Can we be us again?"

"Yes, we can." Amara agreed, but looking to her foster parents and said, "But, my family here—I can't leave them either."

Chuck gave her a reassuring smile. "I think we can work something out." He said, before looking at Jacks and Veronique, "Right, ladies?"

"I believe we can come to an agreement O, Uncreated One." Jacks replied, still wrapping her head around everything, if the tone of her voice was any indication.

And so, the Winchesters help they brokered an agreement. Amara would stay with Jacks and Veronique as she grew and Chuck would be allowed to visit, but he would check in first. The women were a little nervous about trying to make such a demand of the God Almighty Himself, but he didn't seem to hold it against them.

"Can I show Chuck my room?" Amara asked eagerly once they were done.

"Sure, baby." Veronique replied, back in a daze.

Amara practically ran as she led the way.

Everyone left at the table, human and angel alike, were silent until at Veronique spoke up. "Jacks?"

"Yeah," Jacks replied slowly.

"Tell me so I know I didn't just imagine it," Veronique began, "Did we really just hammer out a custody arrangement with the creator of the universe?"

"Yep," Jacks answered in a slightly strained voice, nodding empathically.

"I though so." Veronique replied.

Much later that evening, Chuck headed down the porch steps where three men standing around an Impala were waiting for him. "I knew you'd still be here." He told them, "I imagine you have questions."

"You could day we have a few." Sam replied.


	116. Questions And Answers

"So, um, does anyone of you in particular want to go first?" Chuck asked.

"One of you can go first." Sam volunteered, "Mine might get—involved."

"You can go, Dean." Castiel told him, "Perhaps yours or Sam's may answer mine."

And so, Dean began. "Here's the thing, um…Chuck…And I need more disrespect. Um…I'm guessing you came to help with the Darkness and that's great. That's, you know—it's fantastic. Um, but you've been gone, um, a…a long, long time. And there's so much crap that's gone down on Earth for thousands of years. I mean, plagues and wars, slaughters. And you, I don't know, writing books, going to fan conventions. Were you aware o-or did you just tune it out?"

"I was aware, Dean." Chuck answered.

"But you did nothing." Dean told him, "And, again I-I'm not trying to piss you off. You know, I don't want to turn into a pillar of salt." Even Dean Winchester had a healthy respect for God.

"I actually…didn't do that." Chuck informed him.

"Okay." Dean replied, "People—People pray to you. People build choices for you. They fight wars in your name and you did nothing."

"You're frustrated." Chuck summarized, "I get it. Believe me, I was hands on—Real hands on—for, wow, ages. I was so sure that if I kept stepping in, teaching, pushing, that these beautiful creatures I had created…would grow up. But it only stayed the same. And I saw that needed to step away and let my baby find its way. Being no longer involved is no longer parenting." Chuck sighed, "It's enabling."

"But it didn't get better." Dean pointed out.

"Well, I've been mulling it over." Chuck countered, "And from where I sit, I think it is."

"Well, from where I sit, it feels like you left us and you're trying to justify it." Dean argued.

"I know you had a complicated upbringing Dean, but don't confuse me with your dad." Chuck requested, "Please."

"Well, this, this all way behind my paygrade." Dean admitted on the edge of tears, "Sam, I think it's your turn."

Chuck looked over to his newest archangel. "Sam?" He asked, "Do you have a question?"

Sam froze for a minute. _Thanks a lot, Dean._ "Ah I guess my first question would be…why does the Demon Tablet say the final trail results in death, when it actually results in." He spread his wings, thought he doubted _God_ of all people would be very impressed. "Well, you know."

"Yes, I know." Chuck responded, "Because near-absolute power attacks the wrong people and death attacks the right people."

"Huh?" Sam reacted, confused.

"Sam no person in their right mind would accept the power of leading a race of celestial beings and having near unlimited cosmic power." Chuck explained, "Not unless they desired it, and those with that kind of lust for power…. never ends well. But, if someone's willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the many…well, then, there's a fighting chance of it not backfiring."

"Okay, that does make sense, I guess." Sam replied, "Then I guess the next question would be, why me?"

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked.

"Why did you choose me, of all people for this?" Sam elaborated. If he was honest, he was afraid of the answer, that it would be that Chuck hadn't chosen Sam for this, that it had been a fluke, a mistake.

"Why not you?" Chuck responded, "Sam, throughout the years, I've hardly ever, if ever used the perfect. I've used liars, prostitutes, slaves, exiled murderers, farmers who had a hard time keeping it in their pants, sons of prostitutes, housewives, scribes, shepherds, a couple different shepherds actually, orphans, peasant girls, tax collectors, fishermen, doctors back when medicine wasn't really that good. I mean, really, you should've seen Luke. So, why not add Sam Winchester to that list of misfit heroes?"

Sam's eyes were getting misty. "Now it's way above _my_ paygrade. "

"Anything else?" Chuck asked.

"No, I think I'm good." Sam replied, his chest doing something funny, "Cas."

Castiel looked the father he had been looking for, for so long dead in the eyes and asked, "So what now?"

"Now," Chuck began, "Now I have one more job for you."

 **AN: Yeah, I basically took the 'God Uses Common People' blub my Student's Application Study Bible has in Judges, and wrote them all down. Thought I may have added in one.**

 **I hate to say it but I think I might be reaching the end of this story. I've basically adverted most of what goes down in season twelve through fourteen with the changes I've made. But I promise, before I wrap this up, I will give us all a stratifying conclusion and epilogue.**


	117. The Return

Sam felt like he lost his breath for a moment, as he stared out at all the angels staring at him, waiting for his instruction.

"Okay," He began finally, "It's time to go home. Everyone, please line up, and go into the door in an orderly fashion."

Then angels tried to do as they were told, but there was so many if was diffident, Castiel and Dean and some of the others tried to help and one by one, they went in.

As everyone got in line, Kevin pulled Hael to the side. "Do you want to start this conversation, or should I?"

"What does this mean?" Hael asked, "For us?"

Both were quiet for a moment then Kevin began, "Well, I'm just gonna come out and say it, I don't want to break up."

"Well, I don't want to break up with you, either." Hael replied, "But—live humans can't enter Heaven, not without—dying, and if anyone finds out…"

"Hael, they already know." Kevin cut her off, "Well, not everyone but Sam and Dean, and Cas, a few others…"

"What?" Hael exclaimed, "For how long?"

"Remember when the crazy auction lady sold you to Magnus?" Kevin asked.

"You told them about us then?!" Hael exclaimed.

"Actually, that was when we told we already knew." A voice said, causing them to whirl around, and find Dean Winchester standing there. "Look, "He began, "Sam's still gonna need some people on the ground, so you just sign up for that, sneak off to see Romeo here, and no one will ever be the whisper. In the meantime, you can just do the long-distance thing. Just send your girl up a little prayer."

The couple looked at each other. "I think we can manage that." Kevin said.

"You know I'll always answer your prayers." Hael assured him.

"Now that we got this settled," Dean began, "You need to get inside for now. I think you'll like what's about to happen."

What was happening was as each angel went in Sam put a hand to their backs. Light would be emitting some Sam's hand as he healed, and then suddenly their wings were whole again.

"H-how?" Aserial stammered, after he had healed her, "How is this even possible?"

"Chuck gave me an extra pump of juice." Sam explained, "Just enough to get everyone their wings back."

Meanwhile Lola, Kimmie, Amber and Miriam were all hugging crying. "I'm believe this is happening!" Kimmie exclaimed.

"I know but, I have to go." Miriam sobbed, "I'm so sorry. I'm going to miss more I can say. Just—thank you, all of you."

"Hey," Lola told her, "This isn't goodbye. It's just see you later. You can write, or call or something and we are going to pray directly to you. A lot. Okay?"

"Okay." Miriam replied, nodding.

In the bunker, away from all the noise and commotion, Hagar was sitting on her bed, Tirzah in arms.

"It's gonna be alright." Hagar told the infant, on the edge of tears, "Mommy's not going anywhere."

That was Hannah walked in. "Hagar," She told her, "It's time."

"I'm not going Hannah." Hagar said, not looking away from her daughter, "You can't make me."

Hannah sat down next to her. "Tirzah will be fine." She tried to assure her.

Hagar couldn't believe what she just heard. "She'll be finding alone in the world?!" She snapped at Hannah, "Again?!" It wasn't Hannah she was mad at, not really. She was mad at herself. She knew she never should have taken Tirzah, that it wouldn't be good for the child. That something like this would happen.

"Except she won't be." A voice said behind them.

The women turned and found Castiel and Margery standing behind them. "Hagar," Margery began, "If you'll let me…I'd be honored to take care of Tirzah until you can come back."

Now the tears were flowing freely. "You don't understand." Hagar told her, "Once I go up there, I won't be allowed to come back. We'll never seen each other again!"

"That's not entirely true." Cas spoke up, "Sam will need angels Earth. There's no reason why one of them couldn't be you."

Suddenly Hagar felt a swell of hope. She could still have her daughter. "I'll need a minute with Margery." She told everyone.

Later, Margery, Tirzah in her arms, stood with Dean as they watched the last of the angels go in.

Sam ushered Julian in then turned to the angel he had known the longest. "Cas," Sam began, "Come here." As Cas stepped forward, Sam added, "But first- "Without finishing the sentence he tossed a small vile to Cas.

Cas looked down in disbelief. "How—"

"Finally got it out of Metatron." Sam explained, "Apparently Jenna _really_ did a number one him. Now down the hatch, or whatever you have to do."

Castiel swallowed the grace and the vile and started to glow. Sam stepped and healed his wings. "Now go on." Sam told him, "I'll be right behind you."

Cas stepped in, the door whirling shut behind him.

Everyone stared at each other, then Dean stepped forward. Sam met him halfway and then three himself at his brother, hugging him. "This isn't goodbye." Sam told him, "It's just see you later."

"Yeah," Dean pretended to agreed, but he didn't really believe it. Sam had a whole species depending on him now. Everything in Dean was telling him to resist this, to pick a fight, to try to get Sam to stay, but he knew his brother's sense of responsibility wouldn't let him and he didn't want to make this any harder for Sam then it already was. "Just be careful, okay? I think some of those guys might still be looking to mutiny."

"Perhaps I can help with that." A voice said behind them.

They all turned around to see Chuck standing by the door.

"Chuck?" Sam asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Since I'm staying to see Amara, I fault you could use a little help at least until everything gets back in order." Chuck explained, "That is if you want my help."

"Yes." Sam replied, "I do."

And so, after another round of tearful farewells, Sam and Chuck took off for Heaven.


	118. Catching Up

"And you're sure you're good here?" Sam asked a female angel by the name of Ingrid in front of Heaven's jail, thought at the moment it only had one prisoner.

"Yes, sir." Ingrid assured him, glancing over at Metatron, "Even he can't be too much of a handful on his own."

"And you, Gadreel?" Sam asked the male angel on the other side, "Are you okay with it?" Sam had been somewhat ambivalent about putting him a guard duty because on one hand he knew the place better than anyone, on the other, it held some…. less than nice memories for the guy.

"Don't worry about me." Gadreel told him, "I'll be fine."

"I'll let you get to work then." Sam responded, before going on to his next task. He didn't have a lot of time to hang around.

After that, Sam, along with Chuck, assisted with the storage of all souls that had been caught in the veil, shifted through all the angel's assignments they had before, reassigned them as needed, eliminating two departments, and moved the door to park somewhere in Indiana. (They decided to keep it around in case of emergency.)

Eventually when Sam got a moment to himself, he leaned up against one of the walls in the ridiculously bright white hall. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but it wasn't this. His eyes glanced around the hall for a moment, when his eyes landed on one of the doors. _J and M Winchester._

 _No…._ Sam thought. It couldn't be. Could it?

Sam tentively stepped up to the door, slowly pushing it open.

He found himself on suburban street, in front of the house he recognized from old picture in the one time he had been there himself as adult as their house in Lawrence. Then he heard voices. It sounded like they were arguing.

"How long?!" John demanded on the insane of the house, "How long are we going to kept having this same argument?! Need I remind you, that we're going to be here a _long_ time."

"I am trying to let it go, but you have to understand, it's hard—" Mary began. That was she thought she saw a shadow outside the window. "Is someone outside?"

"Mary, no one's here, but you and me." John told her.

"No," Mary responded, "There's someone at the window." Then Mary pulled back the curtain, revealing someone neither them had seen in a while.

"Sam?" John balked.

"Sam?" Mary repeated, "As in our son, Sam?"

Sam nodded.

Mary whirled around. "Now, you see what you've done?!" She screamed, "You took our boys into this world they've had not place in and now it's gotten one of them killed! Do you see—"

"No, no, no," Sam got out quickly, "No, it's not what you think. It's not that. I kinda—turned into an angel. An Archangel, more specifically."

"A what?" John balked.

And so, Sam sat them down and explained everything.

"I know I shouldn't have come in here, probably." He finished, "But—I wound up in the Ws somehow and I couldn't help myself."

"I'm so glad you didn't." Mary said, leaning in and wrapping her arms around him, "I am so proud of you."

Sam felt his chest do something strange as he let the words washed over her. "Ah, Mom, you did hear everything I just told you, right?" While he hadn't exactly told him everything, he told them enough they should probably have some raised eyebrows.

"You mean did I hear that my son is leading legions of angels?" Mary question pulling back, and just staring at him for a moment. He had gotten so big. How did that happen? He was a tiny baby in her arms last time she actually saw him and now he dwarfed his father.

"I have to agree with your mother, son." John spoke up, "I'm proud of you, too." After a moment he asked, "By the way, can I ask how your brother's doing?"

Sam felt a knot forming in his stomach. Or where his stomach would be if he still had one. "He, ah, I think he's okay." Sam answered, "I know he probably wanted to fight me on leaving, but he didn't. He got people who'll have his back."

"People?" Mary repeated, "Can we get a little more detail?"

And so, Sam told them all about Jody, and the Trans, Castiel, even Margery.

"It's the weirdest thing." Sam told them, "Well, maybe not the weirdest, I mean, it's not she's his only non-human friend. And frankly, I'm one to talk when it comes to that. There was this one time I walked in on them and I thought—" His voice trailed off, wondering if he should go there.

"Are you saying Dean and a Kitsune…" John asked.

"I don't think so." Sam assured him. "It just looked that way."

"Hey, our other son is an angel." Mary pointed out, "I think we can stand another non-human in the family."

"Angels don't eat people." John pointed out.

Then something occurred to him. "Hey, what were you fighting about earlier? If it's okay that I ask that?"

"The same thing we always fight about." Mary answered, "Him raising my children in a life I desperately wanted to keep them away from."

"Well, maybe if I know that was what you wanted…." John pointed out.

"And you would have thought I was crazy!" Mary reasoned.  
"You kept a big portion of yourself from me." John argued, "And you could have left some kind of note or something. 'Dear John, whatever you do, please don't raise the boys to hunt monsters. "

"I shouldn't have to!" Mary snapped, "You should—"

"Um, can I cut in for a minute?" Sam interjected, "There's something you know. Mom _did_ tell you."

Mary and John looked at each other, then looked back at Sam. "No, I didn't."

"Yes," Sam replied, "You did. Only Michael erased your memories."

Again, John and Mary exchanged confused looked, then looked at Sam with the same confused look. "Who did what?" John asked.

And so, Sam explained everything that happened when Anna tried to stop him and Dean for being burned. Including Michael showing up.

"So, you did tell me." John declared when he was done.

"And you were horrified by what you did." Mary concurred, "Even if you didn't know it."

"And it was Michael who caused all our problems." John reasoned, "I say we just blame him for everything and just put this matter to bed."

"I second that." Mary agreed before turning to Sam, "Thanks honey."

"Ah, you're welcome." Sam responded awkwardly, though he was glad he could help.

After a few hours of catching up with his parents, Sam walked out back into the hall, only to find Chuck standing there. "Ah, Chuck," Sam began nervously, "I just…"

"It's alright." Chuck cut him off, "They're your parents, of course you're gonna want to see them, even if it is a bit irregular there's no rule against it. Besides, you've been going non-stop since we got back. In fact, maybe it's time you take a little shore leave."

"Chuck, I couldn't possibly, we just got here…" Sam responded.

"It's been longer than you think." Chuck insisted, "Now go on, get. I got this for little while."

And with that reassurance, Sam took flight.

When Sam landed in front the bunker, he went to the door and knocked. "Dean?" He called out knocking, "Dean, are you there?"

Within a minute the door was flung open by a wide-eyed Dean.

"Is this a bad time?" Sam asked, "I can come back—" However, he was interrupted by Dean throwing himself around him.

"Hell no, it's not a bad time." Dean told him, before pulling back, "What took you so long? I mean, I get you had a lot to do up there and all but—three months?"

That caught Sam by surprise. "T-Three months?"

"Yeah." Dean confirmed, "You didn't know?"

"No," Sam answered, "I guess time moves differently there or something."

Dean was silent for a moment. "Okay, we can figure that out later." He said, before patting Sam's shoulder, "Now, come on, the others just happen to be over, they're gonna want to see you."

As Dean lead him down the stairs, Sam said, "You know, I found Mom and Dad's Heaven. Talked to them for a bit."

Dean nearly lost his footing, literally, but Sam caught him. "So, what happened?" Dean asked, not knowing where to start.

"Pretty well, considering." Sam answered, "When I found them, they were…"


	119. Epilogue

"Don't stay away so long this time." Dean told Sam about a week later as the latter prepared to leave.

"I'll try." Sam promised, "Things should be more under control now. Hopefully that will give me more time and I'll keep track of time better."

"Well, don't strain yourself or anything." Dean quipped.

Sam smirked. "Just—stay in touch with the others. You guys look out for each other."

"You do know I can function without you, right Sam?" Dean responded. _In theory, at least._ "And so can all the others."

"I know." Sam replied, "It's just I worry…"

"Don't." Dean tried to assure him, putting a hand on his shoulder, "We got things down here. Now you get things up there."

Two weeks later, Sam carefully opened the door to Naomi's office.

Since Heaven didn't have an intelligence department anymore, not a secret one anyway, no one had been in it. However, since being back no less than twenty angels had reported hearing strange noises and seeing odd flashes of light. People were starting to get spooked. Sam decided the best way to deal with the problem was to take two angels and go see what was going on himself.

"Alright." Sam told the two angels, "You two stay behind me just in case there's actually something going on in here."

"Yes, sir." One of the angels replied, and the other nodded in agreement.

Sam crept into the room and looked around. Everything looked as if had been before the fall, except someone had tidied up from Metatron's attack, until he saw a gray clad hand lying on the ground from behind the desk.

Sam ran to the desk and picked up what appeared to be a woman with boyishly short white hair with a brown stripe. A woman who other than the change in hair style looked disturbingly familiar.

"Naomi?!" Sam exclaimed aloud, he was in such shock.

Naomi stared up at him. "Well," She began weakly, "I guess it's true…"

"Well, apparently rumors of your death have been greatly exaggerated." Sam responded, still a bit in shock.

"Speaking of which…" Naomi asked, "A little help?"

Even for Sam fulling healing Naomi took hours. At least this gave them some time to talk.

"So, where have you been this whole time?" Sam asked.

"Recovering." Naomi answered, "Apparently when someone literally drills a hole in your head, it takes a while."

"But how did you get back into Heaven without me—or anyone else for that matter—seeing you?" Sam asked.

"I still had a few angels I could rely on." Naomi explained, "They were the ones that spread the word I was dead and they sneaked me few the door. I wasn't sure how I'd be welcome by the new administration, if you know what I mean."

"It's done." Sam announced as long waves of dark down fell down from Naomi's head, "I'm sure we can find a job for you. _Provided_ it doesn't involved lobotomy."

Naomi took her hair and tied it back in a lose bun. "I think I can manage that."

A month later, Dean was in his fed suit, knocking on Marjory's door, just what he had done hundreds of time before now. Except it wasn't like a hundred times before. Now, he was holding a bouquet of flowers he grabbed at the supermarket of all places and minutes of way from probably torpedoing their friendship.

Margery opened the door in a sleeveless black dress that went to just above her knees, with a high neckline. She had curled her hair and it was falling in light waves around her neck. "Hey, there." She greeted him, "You look nice."

"You do, too." Dean replied, "You look-wow." Then he remembered the bouquet. "Ah, these are for you." He told her awkwardly, stretching out his arm to hand them to her.

"There beautiful." Margery said, taking them, "Would you mind letting me take them inside before we go?"

"Sure." Dean said nervously.

Margery walked back in, past Luda Mae who was on the coach playing with Tirzah, and Hagar who was sitting next to them. "Hey, Dean." Hagar greeted him, waving.

"Hey, "Dean replied, "How's it going?"

"Good." Hagar responded, "Margery asked me to babysit.

"Dean!" Luda Mae exclaimed, leaping off the couch and wrapping herself around his leg.

"Hey, there, Ludes," Dean greet her, removing her from his leg and lifting her up into the air, "You're about getting too big for me to do this."

"No. "Luda protested, shaking her head.

"You're not?" Dean responded, earning another head shake.

That was when Margery walked back in. "I got them put in water." She revived her daughter from Dean, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back in a few hours, baby. Love you."

"Love you too, Mommy." Lude Mae replied.

Setting her down, Margery let Dean take her hand, and with that, they headed out the door.

"Are you ready?" Sam asked the currently blue-eyed blonde angel beside him.

"As ready as we'll ever be." The angel replied, "But I swear to you, if anything happens to her on your watch…."

"It won't." Sam promised, "She'll be safe with them."

With no further adue, the angel opened her mouth, and stream of bluest white came out. Suddenly the girl fell back, Sam catching her just in time. "Claire?! Claire, are you okay?!"

"I think so." Claire rasped, getting to her feet, "Azrael's never taken control for that long before. She usually only takes the wheel when I'm trouble. Or when she thinks I'm in trouble. There have been incidents. "After a beat she added, "That was the deal."

"And you heard everything we talked about?" Sam asked.

"She wouldn't have left if I hadn't." Claire answered, "So this is some kind of halfway house for wayward girls or something?"

"No." Sam assured her, "Not at all. Jody Mills is good people, and she'll give you a place to crash until you get on your feet." Taking her hand, he asked, "Now, did Azrael ever fly with you?"

"Okay," Veronique said, coming in the living room, "I got popcorn if anyone wants it."

Jacks took a handful, but Amara just stared at the TV, her face pale. "You okay, honey?"

"Jacks, I'm scared." Amara admitted.

"Scared of what, baby?" Jacks asked.

"What if it's bad?" Amara wondered.

Jacks ran a finger through her hair. "It's going to be fine."

"But, Jacks, that last movie was terrible." Amara reminded her.

"Well, think of it this way, it couldn't possibly be worse than that." Jacks reasoned.

Amara thought on the for a moment. "You're probably right."

"So, are we doing this?" Veronique asked.

"Yeah," Jacks answered, wrapping a hand around Amara's, "We're doing this."

With that Veronique turned on the TV. Just in time too. They were treated to a closeup of a desk littered with pens scissors paper clips and several sharpened orange pencils. On the desk was leather desk pad and two red-edged files. A hand started throwing down pictures as a voiceover began, "My name is Fox Mulder. Since my childhood…."

A year after the return to Heaven, Jennifer Mullins died on a street in London.

At first, she had headed Magnus' advice, setting up shop in France, but she started doing business on the side with few hunters in Britain who had decided to get a little side action behind the British Men of Letters' backs. This led to her going on a business trip to London.

"Thanks," Jennifer told the cab driver, handing him the money before he drove away. She was heading towards the hotel when someone grabbed her from behind. "Wait!" She screamed, panicked, "Stop! Help—" That was when her screams were cut off by someone covering her mouth.

Arthur Ketch normally preferred guns. However, London knife crime was so high the knife was much more inconspicuous. So, after throwing her up against the wall, stunning her, he stabbed, and stabbed, until he was sure she was dead. Then he took her purse to make it look like a mugging gone wrong.

Two night after that, Dean was awoken to sound of someone walking through the bunker. Since Kevin and Linda were still living in the bunker at first, he thought nothing of it, until he heard screaming.

Dean immediately leapt and ran towards the screaming and found Linda Tran going toe to toe with a very-put together blonde. She managed to get a good blow end, sending the blonde back.

That was when the blonde pulled out a gun. "Stand back." She ordered, in a British lit to everyone's surprise, "My quarrel's not with you, but I will use this."

Dean pulled out his gun as well. "Drop it."

The woman turned the gun on Dean. "You first."

"Not gonna happen lady." Dean informed her.

The pair were in a standoff, neither one backing down. At least until the woman fell to the floor.

As Dean gathered up the woman, Hael, armed with a frying pan, made herself visible.

"Ah, Hael, not that I'm not grateful, but what are you doing here at night?" Linda asked.

"Nothing untoward." Hael assured her, "Kevin and I are waiting for marriage for that, Mrs. Tran?"

"Yeah, that doesn't make me feel any better." Linda responded.

"Yeah, maybe we can deal with that latter and help me get the crazy English lady stowed in the dungeon." Dean requested.

Within an hour, Sam was at the bunker. "Okay, so what do we know?"

"Her name is Toni Bevel, she's with the British Men of Letters," Dean answered, leading Sam to the dungeon where they were currently keeping Toni, "Who apparently hate us, and that's all we really know right now."

"She actually told you all that?" Sam asked, surprised.

"No, we found the car she rented and got it from a combination of her driver before he ran off and her purse." Dean specified, opening the dungeon door.

Toni Bevel was currently chained by her wrist in the dungeon, but otherwise unharmed. When the door opened, she was pretty sure that was about to change. She raised her head and her eyes widened in shock at the man coming towards her. "You're –you're alive?"

"Yeah, it turns out rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated." Sam quipped. Apparently when one disappears on and off for long periods of time for about year, people start to make assumptions. "So, are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?"

Toni just stared him down.

"Okay." Sam began, "Hard way then." Then he put his hands on her head, not strictly necessary, but it made a good show, and looked into her mind, making sure he knew _exactly_ what he doing.

"How did you—" Toni began, shocked, as Sam stepped back.

"Look, Toni," Sam cut her off, "Can I call you that? "

Toni nodded.

"Well, Toni," Sam began again, "I am going to laid down some cold hard facts you aren't going to want to hear. Frist of all the British Empire has collapsed and as far as political places go British isn't worth much as other groups lately. You were sheltered because you honestly weren't worth the trouble for most honestly, and the big players aren't hanging out in Britain because your important bits have been removed. This had made your job a Hell of a whole lot easier. And from what I gathered from your head only a few of the big cities are actually warded—"

"You're oversimplf—" Toni began to protest.

"I'm not done yet." Sam cut her off again, "Not to mention that you have a lot let ground to cover, which is the only reason you've been able to hold your system, your hierocracy, and your draconian methods in place and the only reason said system and methods have worked! Oh, any by the way, it's not working completely because I know at least one person who made a crossroad deal _while living in Britain!_ Bella Talbot, look her up. Also, a good portion of that stuff on that murder board in your basement, is just dead long. For one thing, I don't know who Mary Catherine Howard is, but it's not my Mom. Her middle name was Sandra and her Maiden name was Campbell. I mean, I suppose she could have dummied up a fake identity after everything that happened with Azazel, I'll have to ask next time I see her—"

"When you what?" Toni managed to get out.

"I'll explain in a minute." Sam told her, "And you even got my birthday wrong. I was born on May second, not April thirteen! That's over a month off, your ladyship! So, what I want you to do is go back to your superiors and tell them everything I just pointed out to you and that I don't want to see anyone from the British Men of Letters in this hemisphere again. And if that's not enough, feel free to tell them that this country's hunters are under the protection of some very powerful people!"

"Such as?" Toni asked, her voice somewhat strained. He was starting to get to her. Just a bit.

"Me." Sam answered, before starting to glow, and show his wings.

"What?" Toni gasped, actually starting to tremble, "H-How long have you been out? How did you get out?"

Realizing her mistake, Sam quickly said, "Oh, no, it's not like that. Here. It'll be easier if I just show you." Then he put his hands on her forehead, and showed her everything that had happened.

"Oh God." Toni gasped, before breaking out into tears. Within seconds she was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Hey," Sam said gently, "Hey, it's okay. Look, after you deliver that message, we'll get you and your son out. It got friend who can dummy you guys up some nice documents, I think we both know you have money, you can go wherever you want."

"You're assume I get out of that meeting alive." Toni responded, "You're assuming they don't track us down. And they will track us down. Even if it's just like you say it is, we're not totally incompendent."

"Maybe not." Sam admitted, "But just do what I say, and we'll all this out of this."

A week later, after a Toni Bevel, semi half-mad from all the revelations and possibly torture, was "smitted" in front of the entire consul of elders by an enraged Archangel Sam Winchester, and her son mysteriously went missing, they decided it was better if they retained their ambitions to the Island of Great Britain.

"Dean," Sam began standing at the door of the courthouse bathroom, "It's time."

The brothers walked out the bathroom, dressed in near-identical suits with roses sticking out of their lapels. "We're doing this," Dean declared, clearly half-out of his mind with nerves, "We are actually doing this."

"Yeah, Dean." Sam responded, "I got the rings right here." He held at the bag holding two golden webbing bands the couple had picked out a pawn shop down the road.

Castiel, Charlie, and Kevin, who were holding a spot for them, stood up as they arrived.

"Is she hear yet?" Sam asked.

"Not yet." Castiel answered.

"Ohhhh." Dean moaned.

"Don't worry." Charlie assured her, "I'm sure she'll be here soon."  
Just then as if on cue, Margery McNamara walked into the courthouse, holding her daughter's hand and surrounded by three female angels and a mom. Considering she had already had a child, she forewent the pretense of a white dress, going for a china blue sheet dress instead, with matching blue wedge heels and a bouquet of flowers. A plain necklace no one had seen her wear was hanging from her neck. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bright. He had never seen her so beautiful.

The groups met in the middle. "Hey," Margery greet first.

"Hey," Dean got out, "You—you look beautiful." Then he realized he recognized the amulet around her neck; it uses to be his. "Where did you get that?" He asked, reaching out and touching it.

"Actually, um, before we headed out, Chuck stopped by." Margery explained, "Said I still needed something borrowed."

"You're saying God gave us a wedding present?" Dean responded genuinely surprised.

Margery nodded.

"Well, I guess this means our marriage is blessed, I guess." Dean smiled nervously.

Just then the bailiff stepped out, calling, "Winchester, McNarma."

The couple, followed by half a dozen witnesses, walked into the courtroom.

Two months later, Sam was dealing with dealing with business in Heaven.

"Okay, that's the new guard rotation." Sam finished, "Thanks everyone. Dismissed."

As the angels disbursed to take their posts, Sam turned around to see a clearly distressed Chuck standing behind her.

"Chuck," Sam asked, concerned, "Is everything okay?"

"No." Chuck answered, "No, it's-it'll be better if I come and show you."

Chuck took Sam to a motel in Colorado. "Demons from Amara have started becoming harder to come by." Chuck began, "So I've started to have to go after bigger game."

"Bigger game?" Sam repeated, not understanding.

"The Princes of Hell." Chuck explained, "The first generation of demons after Lilith but before the Knights of Hell. She can feed off them for a while. I found one of them, Asmodeus, but—that's not all I found."

Chuck opened up the door of one of the rooms, where on the bed stat a figure in dirty rags, who looked up in fear at the door opening, revealing dead, amber-colored eyes.

"It's alright, Gabriel." Chuck assured him, "It's just me."

"He's been alive this whole time?" Dean exclaimed, gathered around Sam with the others once they had brought Gabriel back to the bunker.

"We think Asmodeus was using his grace supplement his own power." Sam explained.

"But how Asmodeus get Gabriel in the first place?" Cas asked, "How did he survive the attack?"

"That we don't know." Sam admitted, "Hopefully Chuck can make some kind of connection."

Meanwhile. Chuck and Gabriel were in one of the bunker's bedroom, Gabriel Indian-style on the bed recoiling from his Father's very touch.

Chuck couldn't believe this happened. Couldn't believe he _let_ this happen. "It's going to be okay, Gabriel, Chuck assured him, gently moving some runaway hairs, "Daddy's here now."

Roughly four years later, everything seemed alright, as five men of varying divinity and/or deity, joined Veronique, Jacks and Jacks family.

"Hey," Veronique greeted them. It still felt a bit weird, being so casual with angels and God himself, but it had gotten a little easier over the year. "Dean, how's the kids?"

"Luda just started Middle School and Chris is Pre School now." Dean answered.

Dean had found Christopher on a hunt just after Chuck had found Gabriel. He had just gawked a Rugaru and found him swelling a makeshift crib. Dean was surprised, because he knew the parents were dead but, in the end, he figured the Rugaru was just saving him for after f something. The orphan of two orphans, Dean didn't know what to do with the kid and when he told Margery he might be a bit, she surprised Dean by suggesting, "Just bring him to me."

Two days later, they asked Luda Mae if she would like a little brother, thought they already knew the smitten child's answer.

"Uh, Jacks," Robert spoke up, "How do you know these people?"

"Chuck is a relative of Amara's who tacked her down." Jacks explained, which technically was true, "We came to a custody arrangement that allowed us to keep Amara, but for him to stay in Amara's life. These are some friends who are—interested in the matter."

Before it could be question further, the first speaker came up.

The teacher spoke for what felt like a year and was really good at repeating herself in different ways. The Valedictorian was more to the point. Finally, halfway through, they got to the Os.

"Amata O' Connell—Kamal." The principle finally called as she waked across the stage, taking her diplopia and Amara walked off."

At the end of the ceremony, everyone threw off their graduation caps, cheering.

The next wedding was Kevin and Hael's.

Even though she could fly now Kevin rented car with not top, but a cloth hood that could be moved up or down, and they drove up to the church when Sam transformed, because it safe and seclude and they wouldn't be interrupted.

"This is a very nice car." Hael told him, running a hand along the apostery, "What kind of car is this?"

"It's called a Cadillac." Kevin answered.

It dawned on Hael immediately. "Like the one who mention when we talked about going to Grand Canyon."

"When I saw it, I couldn't help myself." Kevin admitted, "You know, we never did go. Maybe we should, after this. Might make a nice Honeymoon."

"Honeymoon?" Hael repeated, unfamiliar with the term.

"It's this—trip the couple goes on, after the wedding." Kevin explained, "To celebrate getting and…you know…"

Hael looked down at the mention of consummating their marriage, tugging at the string of pearls that fell down chest, tied in a not. Unlike Margery, she was wearing a modest white dress, as she was a version. "Kevin, I'm worried." She finally declared, "About…that. What if I hurt you?"

"You won't." Kevin assured her.

"How do you know?" Hael challenged, "We've never—you know, before."

"No, but we've done other things." Kevin pointed out, "We've kissed, we've held each other, and it's not like you accidently destroy Earth every time you sneeze. This isn't some women of steel, man of Kleenex thing."

"Huh?" Hael responded.

"I just mean we don't have to worry about it." Kevin explained

At last they arrived at the church. "Sam said everything should be ready to go." Kevin told Hael, helping her out of the car.

The couple walked inside where Linda was sitting in a pew that had been hastily reconstructed, and Sam was at the front. "Are you ready?" He asked as the young couple approached.

Kevin and Hael exchanged looks. "Yeah," Kevin said, "Yeah, I think we are."

"This really isn't nessacry." Charlie insisted, as a woman in a sleeveless ginnam dress, with smooth brown hair in a ponytail handed yet another cupcake.

"It's the least I can do." The woman insisted, "You just saved my life."

Charlie had been in Chicago, working a case of animal attacks that she had good reason to believe was the actions of a Werewolf. It turned out she was right and she shot him just as he was about to chow down on a baker named Kara.

"Alright," Charlie conceded, biting into a cupcake that filled her mouth with the taste of vanilla and coffee, "Whoa. This amazing! Seriously, what do you put in here?"

"Well actually," Kara began, "I start out with…"

Within a year, there was another wedding.

Years pasted. The strange family grew and changed. Charlie and Kara followed Dean and Margery's example and adopted a child Charlie found orphaned with no other family to take care of her, something she could empathize with. Then they one upped them and adopted another. Kevin and Hale were able to go through proper channels when they decided to have children as Kevin did eventually get some semblance of a normal life back, working in a company's IT department. Amara grew up fully, and took her side by her brother, though she still saw her mothers often. They saw Chuck a lot less, but they still continued to see Sam. He made a point of still being a part of their lives.

Then, at last, at the age of 94, Dean Winchester died of, all things, a heart attack.

It was still a hunter's funeral, Sam and Castiel putting the body while Margery, Luda Mae, and Mary Jane, Luda Mae's oldest, are openly weeping while Christopher was trying to comfort all three while simontaiously giving his wife a flimsy explanation, as he never told his wife about what his father did, what his mother and sister were, and Tirzah tried to sooth her two-year-old.

"Here, let me." Hagar offered, touching the child on her forehead. When she saw the look on her daughter's face, she assured her, "It's fine. It's only a little thing to soothe her. I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but sometimes I would do it to you when all else failed."

"Margery?" Sam spoke up to get her attention, "Do you want to be the one to do it?"

Margery walked up. "It should be both of us."

Then, together, they took the torch and wordlessly lit the pyre.

Sam stayed for about two months, helping them get things in order, but he finally had to back.

"I'll do everything I can to get you in." Sam told Margery before he left, holding on to her tight, "I promise."

"Just—tell him hi when you see him for me." Margery requested, "We both know you're going to."

"Of course." Sam said before taking off.

Sam knew he should catch up on what had gone while he was gone, check in with Chuck, Amara, and Gabriel, but he went straight to the Ws, straight to _Winchester, D_.

When Sam walked in, Dean was playing with Luda Mae and Christopher. "I told you the tickle monster was going to get you!" He was play-growling, tickling Luda while Christopher jumped on his back to come to her aid.

Sam knew his part in the memory. "Dean, be careful!"

Dean looked up and knew this was the real Sam. He froze, just staring.

"Margery says hi." Sam told him, "They all do. "

"How are they?" Dean asked.  
"As well, as can be expected." Sam answered, "They miss you. Cas is probably going to stop by in a little bit, just to give you a head's up." After beat he added, "You know, Mom and Dad are just across the way, if you want to visit."

"Is that even allowed?" Dean asked.

"We've been a little strict about it for the last couple of decades." Sam admitted, "As long as nobody messes with the important bits. Come on, I'll show you the way."

And with that they walked into the next chapter of their lives, and what for the others would only be a tempory separation.

 **AN: This is it folks. I hope this tied up any lose ends.**

 **I want to everyone who took time to read this doorstopper, and to everyone who followed or favorites or reviewed. I'm gonna miss you guys. I never expected this to do this well, let alone span over 100 chapters. (Then again, I'm usually amazed if I make it to ten chapters.) To those who literally just started following this (you know who are) sorry. (Though I did give everyone fair warning this was about to wrap up.) I hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much I enjoyed writing it. (More so, because something it was rather frustrating.)**

 **And happy Thanksgiving everyone! (Albeit it few days late.)**


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